Pakistan Supreme Court starts down the road toward a constitutional coup Mr Gilani was ordered to appear on Thursday to explain himself. Imtiaz Gul, Executive Director of the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies, said the government had opted for brinkmanship. Senior figures believed the military and courts were working hand in hand. "The prime minister has basically chosen confrontation rather than reconciliation," he said, adding that Mr Gilani could now be made a scapegoat to allow President ASif Ali Zardari to survive. He's a pawn in a very big game of chess. Most observers believe the government will find a way out of the latest crisis allowing it to stumble on until elections are called. Last week tension between the army and the government exploded into the open, when the military gave a public dressing down to Mr Gilani after he accused two senior officers of behaving illegally. The two sides met over the weekend to calm mounting speculation of a military coup. But that still leaves the government vulnerable to a legal challenge. During the 1990s, Zardari faced multiple charges of corruption, all of which he says are false and politically motivated. He and his wife, Benazir Bhutto, were only able to return to Pakistan in 2007 after an amnesty was declared. However, that deal was declared "unconstitutional" in 2009 and the court has been pushing for the government to re-open corruption cases against Mr Zardari and to ask prosecutors in Switzerland, where he is accused of receiving kickbacks when Mrs Bhutto was prime minister, to resume their investigation. So far the government has refused to do so, saying the president is immune from prosecution as head of state. Maula Bakhsh Chandio, federal law minister, said the government would review the court's ruling and "obey the law and the constitution." One possibility is for Mr Gilani to agree to write to Swiss authorities, where prosecutors last year said they were unable to take action against a head of state. At the same time, the government is under pressure over a memo soliciting American help to help prevent a coup in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's killing in Pakistan on May.