No doubt, weeks of mounting anti-government protests had been enough to convince five of the powerful army's 11 Corps Commanders that it was time for them to step in and force embattled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign, but they didn't do it by reiterating their commitment to constitutionalism and democracy.
When top generals met in Rawalpindi last month as demonstrations raged in nearby Islamabad thousands of protesters had just tried to storm the Prime Minister's House an international wire agency, Reuters, has quoted a minister who, according to it, declined to be named due to the sensitivity of discussing the inner workings of the military, as saying that at least five generals had been pushing for weeks for the army to take a more "active role" in defusing the crisis. "The time for the army to be neutral is over," was how the minister summed up the message from dissenters around the table, according to the wire service. It has also been claimed that military sources confirmed this version of events. They, like the minister, spoke on condition of anonymity. A senior security source has been quoted as saying "Raheel Sharif is not interested in direct intervention. The tanks aren't going to come rolling in. This army believes in compromise."
It increasingly appears that army has decided against a coup, although some analysts have depicted Imran Khan's and Dr Tahirul Qadri's meetings with the army chief as a 'soft coup'. Imran's growing belligerence and Qadri's 'improvisation' also indicate that army has decided that it must not overthrow another civilian set-up. The army has been forced into prudence.
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