Syed Saleem Shahzad: Winds of change swirl in Pakistan

Pakistan's deteriorating political situation has activated the previously very low profile Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani. He met President Asif Ali Zardari for the first time this week - actually twice - after returning from Washington, where he had met with senior officials. As a result, a planned crackdown against opposition parties has been shelved. The Punjab Assembly, which was closed down this month after the High Court disqualified the chief minister of the state, Shahbaz Sharif, was reopened. It had been placed under governor's rule, that is, by the central government in Islamabad. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani has also asserted his strength and advised the president, through parliament, to rescind an ordinance on mobile law courts. Zardari had issued a decree to establish mobile courts that would have the power to adjudicate on minor offences on the spot. Opposition parties claimed the courts would be used to target their activists, who plan a number of street protests in the coming weeks.

However, he suffered a political defeat - directly as a result of the military's persuasion - when this week he lifted the ban on the Punjab Assembly and allowed it to meet. The majority of its members belong to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, arch foes of Zardari. More humiliating though was the issue of the mobile courts. Premier Gillani advised the president that since parliament was in session, he had to withdraw the ordinance. In this instance, the prime minister's advice was binding, so the ordinance was canceled.

This military intervention - and Gillani getting closer to the army -
coincides with a drop in Zardari's popularity within his own Pakistan People's Party, the lead party in the ruling coalition. Zardari has been particularly outspoken - if not rude - towards some of parliament's members, including in his own cabinet. He is even in danger of losing control of the party as he is accused of surrounding himself with friends and associates, many unelected, to act as advisors in key areas