Just minutes after the strongly worded warning by the army, Gilani sacked Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retired) Khalid Naeem Lodhi, considered close to the army chief, marking an escalation in the row. The fast-paced developments came as the government was on a collision course with the judiciary too, with the Supreme Court warning yesterday that action could be taken against
both the President and Prime Minister for failing to act on a court order to reopen corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Earlier, Zardari made it clear that he did not intend to resign even as an urgent session of parliament has been called to consider the situation.

Zardari through his spokesman refuted reports that he had offered to resign at a meeting of his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its allies late last night.