Pakistan's army chiefs turn on prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani The inflammatory military statement was issued after Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister, accused the army chief and its head of intelligence of acting unlawfully by making submissions to an ongoing Supreme Court inquiry without clearing them with the Ministry of Defence. The military denied the central allegation and said the two responses had been sent to the Ministry of Defence to be forwarded on to the court. The court is investigating a controversial unsigned memo that allegedly sought the help of the US in ousting the two military figures to prevent a coup. The saga has already forced the resignation of an ambassador to Washington and some officers suspect senior government figures in Islamabad were behind the plot in order to bring the military to heel. Mr Gilani made the latest accusation in an interview with a Chinese newspaper, angering General Ashfaq Kayani, the Chief of Army Staff , who was on a visit to China at the time. Gen Kayani called a meeting of senior commanders on his return before issuing his fiery rebuttal yesterday. The salvo could not come at a worse moment. Pakistan is already in a febrile state, gripped by weeks of rumours of an impending coup. The latest statement will only fuel speculation that the generals are preparing to make their move. At the heart of the crisis is a struggle between the civilian government and the army for control of Pakistan. It has kept the generals in power for half Pakistan's 45-year history. Javed Siddiq, Islamabad editor of The Daily Nawa-i-Waqt newspaper, said there seemed no way to bring the civilian and military leaders back together. "The government is besieged and they are trying to fight out but these tactics are just going to backfire on them," he said. Every time they retaliate the crisis will just deepen. The result is the feeling of a country in limbo, waiting for elections that may not happen until 2013 and unable to push through reforms to tackle an economic crisis that has left millions of people short of gas and electricity this winter. "If they have any common sense they will back off otherwise we are facing collapse," said Hasan Askari Rizvi, an analyst based in Lahore.