Pakistan took a few hours of respite from its constitutional crisis yesterday but by evening had resumed a battle that pits the prime minister against the president and the chief justice, and has led to a mutiny in the supreme court.
Although the army, which has ruled Pakistan for half of its 50 years, remained a silent spectator to the latest in a series of constitutional clashes, as efforts for a compromise failed again yesterday, there are fears its patience may run out.
The intemperate exchanges between the Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, and the two men he accuses of conspiring against him - President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, and the chief justice, Mr Sajjad Ali Shah - have paralysed the government, and depleted foreign exchange reserves.
In the afternoon, Supreme Court lawyers were claiming to have defused a rebellion against Mr Shah, by fellow judges who do not share his taste for head-on confrontation with Mr Sharif. Observers have suggested that some of the judges were influenced by emissaries of the prime minister.
"I think there will be no more adding to the split," said Mr Abid Hussein Minto, president of the influential supreme court bar association. "At least the judges are talking to each other."
Eighty lawyers had arrived at the supreme court yesterday to dissuade a mutiny by 10 judges on the 17-member court which was pressing for the disqualification of Mr Shah. Their session was to have taken place at the same time as Mr Shah was trying the prime minister for contempt of court - a scheduling conflict that would have reduced the court to chaos. If found guilty, Mr Sharif could be barred from office.
The lawyers succeeded, but momentarily. The showdown was deferred but only for a day. "The earlier agreement has collapsed," said Mr Mohammed Zakaullah, the registrar of the supreme court. "We are back to square one."
Meanwhile, Mr Leghari criticised the prime minister for accusing him of conspiracy. "The president has assiduously followed the constitution and law at all times. Indeed, the president has worked hard to try and help the government extricate itself from a self-created mess," a presidential spokesman said yesterday.