An uncompromising Nawaz Sharif is ready to take up any opportunity that comes his way, especially after being shaken by the growing popularity of his rival Imran Khan

Already under pressure because of the Supreme Court’s probe into the Memogate affair and its decision that that the NRO was illegal, Zardari’s team failed to deal with the new crisis in a coordinated and coherent way. But they do have faith in their leader. “The clever Zardari I know will overcome this crisis,” the president’s aide said. “He has outsmarted his rivals and critics for more than three years now.”

“The timing of the NRO decision and the way the Supreme Court is hearing Nawaz Sharif’s petition on Memogate has worried us,” a source close to the president said. After the apex court rejected the government’s plea on the NRO, Zardari enjoys “no immunity whatsoever”.

But that is not the PPP’s problem, according to veteran party leader Taj Haider. “We have been facing court cases for a decade and a half and we are ready to face them again,” he said. Taj Haider, who is also the general secretary of the party in Sindh, said the NRO was a tactical move by PPP leaders that allowed them to come back to Pakistan.

“Right-wing and reactionary parties are trying to use the Supreme Court,” he said, “but they will not succeed.”

The liberal Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), one of PPP’s biggest allies with 25 National Assembly seats, has been looking at the crisis from the sidelines so far. “We have already been facing false charges, NRO or no NRO,” party spokesman Faisal Sabazwari said. He said his party would not support “judicial adventurism”.

The Awami National Party, another key ally of the PPP, is standing by the president. Its leader Asfandyar Wali had recently met President Zardari to form a strategy to counter any move against the Presidency. “We support a free judiciary, but not judicial activism,” a party leader said. “The judiciary has to be impartial.”

Clearly under pressure, the PPP invited its chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to Pakistan. The young leader was filmed meeting the prime minister wearing an ajrak and a Sindhi topi, indicating the party is defiant and playing what is known as the ‘Sindh card’.

Babar Awan, the former law minister, also played the victim in a recent press conference. He alleged that Nawaz Sharif was given special protocol at the Supreme Court. The apex court rejected the allegation. “We hope that baseless allegations will be avoided in future and the dignity and respect of the apex court will be maintained,” it said in a statement issued last week. “No one was given any protocol or any special favour as far as entry into the court premises or Courtroom No 1 (the chief justice’s courtroom) is concerned.” But Dawn News aired footage that it said showed the contrary.

An uncompromising Nawaz Sharif is ready to take up any opportunity that comes his way, especially after being shaken by the growing popularity of his rival Imran Khan in Punjab. “He is desperately seeking out a deal with the military,” a source in the PML-N said.

Yasin Azad, the president of Supreme Court Bar Association, he was “against any sort of politicisation of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the court’s involvement in political affairs”. “It is important that the Supreme Court doesn’t fall into a trap and undo the democratic process,” said a former judge asking not to be named.

The mood is tense in Islamabad with the Supreme Court clearly in the driving seat. The military seems to have decided to sit back and watch.