Gilani, Kayani to come face to face

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani will come face to face for the first time since they crossed swords over the memo issue, when a cabinet committee meets on Saturday to discuss crucial issues related to national security and relations with the US.
The government has convened a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, Pakistan’s highest decision-making body for security matters, at the Prime Minister’s House on Saturday afternoon, officials said on Friday.
Acoording to officials, Kayani is among those who will attend the meeting.
This will be the first meeting between Gilani and Kayani since a testy exchange between the civilian government and the military earlier this week.
On Monday, Gilani said during an interview that the army and Inter-Services Intelligence chiefs had acted in a “unconstitutional and illegal” manner while submitting affidavits to the Supreme Court on the alleged memo that had sought US help to stave off a possible coup in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
The military reacted to Gilani’s remarks by saying that they could have “grievous consequences”.
Kayani met with the army’s Corps Commanders and his Principal Staff Officers on Friday to assess options for dealing with the political crisis.
Though the meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet has been convened to discuss the Parliamentary Committee on National Security’s recommendations for resetting ties with the US and NATO, sources said that it could give the government and the military an opportunity to address their differences on the memo issue.