Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari amid highest tensions since 1999 coup Tension has risen between the civilian government and the military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 64-year history, since a memo emerged last October purportedly seeking US help to stave off a military coup. The powerful military warned on Wednesday of "grievous consequences" over reported comments by Prime Minister Yusu Raza Gilani accusing the military of acting unconstitutionally amid the "memogate" scandal. Deepening the crisis, Gilani later sacked the country's top military bureaucrat for unspecified "gross misconduct and illegal action." A senior member of the PPP also warned on Wednesday that both sides appeared to be digging in their heels, although others have played down talk of an imminent showdown. The military drew rare public criticism after al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden was killed in a unilateral cross-border raid by US special forces troops in a garrison town not far from the Pakistani capital last May. The memo scandal emerged several months later when a Pakistani-born businessman wrote in a column in the Financial Times about the existence of a memo seeking help from the Pentagon to rein in the military. Businessman Mansoor Ijaz said a Pakistani diplomat had asked for the memo to be delivered to the Pentagon. He later identified the diplomat as Husain Haqqani, a Zardari ally who was then Pakistan's ambassador in Washington. Haqqani has denied the allegation but has since resigned in a bid to end the scandal, which has resulted in a judicial commission in Pakistan's Supreme Court. Zardari could face impeachment proceedings if that commission finds a link between him and the memo.