Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that conspirators are plotting to bring down his government.
He also declared that the military has to be accountable to parliament and that no institution can be a state within a state.
His government is struggling with a memo scandal that has forced the resignation of the Pakistani ambassador to the US and threatens the president.
The leaked memo allegedly asked for US help to prevent a military takeover.
Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari, has recently returned to the country after seeking medical treatment in Dubai. The 56-year-old denies any role in the memo.
His illness and the scandal surrounding the memo have led to speculation that he might be forced out of office.
Pakistan's supreme court has opened a hearing into the memo and demanded a reply from the president.
Tensions are high between the civilian government, which has ruled since elections in February 2008, and Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence services, after US forces killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad in May. The army was not told about the raid in advance.
Mr Gilani also referred to the controversy over the late al-Qaeda leader, querying how he had managed to get into Pakistan and live there for six years apparently undetected.
A strike by Nato forces on a Pakistani border post in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. This has caused outrage in Pakistan and made it more difficult for the civilian government to defend its policy of co-operation with the United States.
The army has ruled Pakistan for much of its history and has carried out four coups.
Some analysts have speculated that the "memogate" affair is a conspiracy by the army to embarrass the government.
BBC News - Pakistan plot to overthrow government, says PM Gilani
He also declared that the military has to be accountable to parliament and that no institution can be a state within a state.
His government is struggling with a memo scandal that has forced the resignation of the Pakistani ambassador to the US and threatens the president.
The leaked memo allegedly asked for US help to prevent a military takeover.
Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari, has recently returned to the country after seeking medical treatment in Dubai. The 56-year-old denies any role in the memo.
His illness and the scandal surrounding the memo have led to speculation that he might be forced out of office.
Pakistan's supreme court has opened a hearing into the memo and demanded a reply from the president.
Tensions are high between the civilian government, which has ruled since elections in February 2008, and Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence services, after US forces killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad in May. The army was not told about the raid in advance.
Mr Gilani also referred to the controversy over the late al-Qaeda leader, querying how he had managed to get into Pakistan and live there for six years apparently undetected.
A strike by Nato forces on a Pakistani border post in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. This has caused outrage in Pakistan and made it more difficult for the civilian government to defend its policy of co-operation with the United States.
The army has ruled Pakistan for much of its history and has carried out four coups.
Some analysts have speculated that the "memogate" affair is a conspiracy by the army to embarrass the government.
BBC News - Pakistan plot to overthrow government, says PM Gilani
