IS PAKISTAN AT THE TIPPING POINT?

Relations between the government and the military have seriously deteriorated in recent weeks. The Supreme Court is investigating an anonymous memo which sought US help to avert a possible military coup in Pakistan following the killing by US forces of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in May.

It is not clear who wrote the memo or conveyed it to the Americans. They say they received it but took no action. Pakistan's military - deeply humiliated by the discovery of Bin Laden on Pakistani soil and the secret US operation to kill him - has been incensed by the affair. 

The scandal has already cost Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, his job. He denies any role in the memo, as does President Asif Ali Zardari. 

Mr Zardari could be forced to quit if the trail is found to lead to his door. The government is also on a collision course with the judiciary, which wants to reopen old corruption cases in which the president argues he is innocent.

SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE. AND THE ISI &AL QAEDA MIGHT STEP INTO THE VACUUM. STAY TUNED...