Embattled Pakistan President Zardari lobbies for support

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President Asif Ali Zardari's ruling party, facing intense pressure from Pakistan's powerful generals, lobbied its coalition partners on Friday for support as fears over the stability of the nuclear-armed country rose.

One of Zardari's allies introduced a resolution in parliament hoping to build support for the embattled leader.

The National Assembly will debate the confidence motion on Monday and the government hopes for a vote in the next week.

The prime minister was cautious, saying the purpose of the move was not an attack on the military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its 64-year history through a series of coups.

A disputed memo allegedly from Zardari's government seeking U.S. help in reining in the generals soured relations between the civilian leadership and the military, pushing them to their lowest point since the last military coup in 1999.

While another takeover is unlikely, the open hostilities will reinforce the view that Pakistan's leaders are caught up in power struggles so often that they are incapable of running a country facing enormous social, security and economic problems.

The latest crisis also troubles Washington, which wants smooth ties between civilian and military leaders so that Pakistan can help efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan, a top priority for President Barack Obama.

Some coalition partners of the ruling Pakistan People's Party warned that Zardari and his allies should not push the military too hard, fearing another huge crisis in the South Asian nation facing a Taliban insurgency of its own.

"We will support any such resolution as it will be a move to strengthen democracy in the country, but it will be difficult for us to support any resolution which targets any state institution," said a member of parliament from a major coalition ally of the PPP.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was similarly cautious. "The resolution we mentioned, its purpose is absolutely not that we are against any institution," he told parliament in a speech televised live to the nation. "It absolutely does not mean we are bringing this against the military."

DEFIANT PRESIDENT
Zardari, however, may take more risks. The president, close aides say, wants to be remembered as the leader who pushed harder than any other to promote civilian rule in Pakistan and loosen the military's tight hold on power.

"He is stubborn and headstrong, with a strong sense of street politics," a senior PPP member told Reuters.

"And he has a desire for a legacy as the man who finally got the ballot box to prevail." No civilian government has ever served out its full five-year term in Pakistan.

Zardari also may have concluded the military will not have the stomach for another coup.

Military sources say that, while they would like Zardari to go, it should be through constitutional means, not another overthrow that would tarnish Pakistan's democracy further.

While analysts say the military would be capable of pulling off a coup, several factors prevent it from doing so.

The military's image was badly damaged by the unilateral U.S. raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May last year.

The discovery that bin Laden may have been living in a Pakistani town not far from intelligence headquarters in the capital infuriated U.S. officials, hurting the military's position with their traditional American backers.

And few generals want to repeat the mistakes made by Pakistan's last military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president in disgrace in 2008 to avoid impeachment for violating the constitution.

The military sets foreign and security policy, even when civilians are in power, so it needs a major reason, such as a threat to its fundamental interests, to justify a coup.

The military is also reluctant to take power and assume responsibility for a host of problems such as a weak economy, widespread poverty and power shortages that would open it up to public criticism.

Pakistan's next general election is due in 2013. Legislators will elect a new president which is a largely ceremonial post after that ballot.