Islamabad --
Pakistan's army chief paid a visit to the country's president Saturday in a meeting that may signal a willingness for reconciliation between the military and the civilian government after a week of escalating tensions and rumors of an impending coup.
Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and President Asif Ali Zardari discussed the "current security situation," according to the state-run news agency.
Friction between the military and the government has spiked after an unsigned memo was sent to Washington last year asking for its help in heading off a supposed coup. The note enraged the army, which was still smarting from the humiliation of last year's covert U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden north of Islamabad.
Zardari's office welcomed the meeting with Kayani and said it should help relations.
The army has staged at least three coups in Pakistan's six-decade history and still considers itself the true custodian of the country's interests. On Wednesday, it warned of "grievous consequences" for the country in an unusual statement, raising fear it might try again to oust the government.
The nuclear-armed country is facing a host of problems, among them near economic collapse, a virulent al Qaeda- and Taliban-led insurgency, and a crisis in its relations with its key ally, the United States, after NATO air strikes in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border.
That attack has prompted Islamabad to review its coordination with U.S. and NATO forces, and on Saturday Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani vowed to protect Pakistani sovereignty in new rules being drawn up to regulate such coordination.
"Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity are not negotiable," Gilani said at the opening of a special committee to discuss the fallout over the air strikes.
