'Worst not yet over for Pakistan government'

The worst is not yet over for the government as Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's submission before the Supreme Court on the president's immunity "may end up doing exactly what the government has been trying to avoid: open up the discussion on the matter", said a daily.

An editorial in the News International Sunday said that the past few days have been tumultuous for Pakistani politics - "even by its own vexing standards".

"The Supreme Court issued a contempt of court notice to the prime minister and the memo issue took a new turn with Mansoor Ijaz finally getting a visa to Pakistan. Each of these developments is important in its own right while the confluence of them can be expected to have serious political ramifications," it said.

The editorial added: "...the worst is not over yet for the government given that the prime minister's main argument before the judges - that the president has immunity and hence there is no need to write a letter to Swiss authorities - may end up doing exactly what the government has been trying to avoid: open up the discussion on the matter of presidential immunity."

It went on to say that Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz is finally set to visit Pakistan for his testimony before the commission appointed by the apex court to investigate the memo that was sent to Washington and which said President Asif Ali Zardari feared a coup following the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden May 2 last year.

"Everyone would like to get to the bottom of the memo issue, and one can only hope that Ijaz's arrival will help clarify, not confound, the issue further."

Noting that the civilian-military confrontation has "clearly reached a harrowing precipice", the editorial said: "We can only hope that everyone will have the sense not to make any ill-thought moves that could end in disaster for the overall stability of Pakistan."