Click to play videoIslamabad: Pakistan is staring at a division within the corridors of power with questions being raised - who is more powerful between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari.
Gilani is on a high after sacking Mahmud Ali Durrani as Pakistan's National Security Advisor. However, under pressure from the United States of America Zardari may ensure that Gilani's tenure is shortlived.
Durrani's sacking seems to have opened another chapter in Pakistan's history of power struggle and within the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
But the man in the eye of the storm denies any such possibilities.
"You just tell me if the President has acted on my advice or not. If he has acted on my advice and he has accepted what I have said then there is no misunderstanding," Gilani said.
But it is a denial not taken seriously by many Islamabad watchers as they believe it all started long back.
"He (Durrani) was on the pay roll of the Americans. That report was presented to Prime Minister Gilani and also to President Zardari. It was decided long time ago may be two months ago to remove him and the government was just looking for some excuse," Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir said.
It is also a clear indication of Gilani's dislike for Zardari's choices, who like Zardari is perhaps very close to Washington.
Though the sword may be hanging on Gilani but he can't be written off yet.
Gilani may have more aces up his sleeve than one can give him credit for and may well end up turning the tables on Zardari.
If Zardari wants to throw out Gilani he'll have to get the National Assembly to move a no confidence motion against the Prime Minister, which means Zardari has to dismiss his own government.
It is not even certain whether Zardari even has enough backing within the PPP to get them to throw out Gilani.
Also Gilani has vowed to scrap the 17th Amendment approved by Musharraf which gave more powers to the President, something Zardari would be wary off.
"It is an inside war, inside war with a real dynamic with the prime minister having the real capacity. I think this is something that Zardari didn't even know. I think if he would have known, he would have been the prime minister of Pakistan today," Maria Sultan, Pakistani defence expert, said.
Reports also suggest PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif is planning to introduce a bill in the National Assembly to restore the powers of the prime minister which if passed can make Zardari's worst fears come true.
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