Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and President Asif Ali Zardari. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: Amid a lowering of tensions between the government and the military establishment, Navy chief Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila was decorated on Friday with Nishan-i-Imtiaz (military), one of the highest national honours, for his meritorious services.

The citation of the award conferred by President Asif Ali Zardari at a ceremony in the Presidency reads: “Nishan-i-Imtiaz (M) was being conferred upon the naval chief in recognition of his long meritorious services.”

The award is given to individuals who achieve distinction and excellence in a certain activity or field of life.

The event was immediately taken by political observers as a sign that the crisis generated by the memo scandal was over even though the inquiry by a Supreme Court-appointed commission was ongoing.

The presence at the investiture ceremony of the entire military top brass, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, reinforced this impression.

It was the most high-profile gathering of top officers of the armed forces in the Presidency.

An icebreaker between President Zardari and Gen Kayani preceded it last week after weeks of heightened tensions.

A meeting between Gen Wynne and the president followed, making it further clear that a rapprochement was in the works.

So it was natural for the electronic media to attach significance to the Zardari-Kayani meeting— their second direct interaction over the past seven days— on the sidelines of the ceremony.

The new-found bonhomie contrasts with the hardline positions taken by civilian and military leaders over the past two weeks.

After a standoff between the government and the military intensified late last month, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani fired the first salvo against the military establishment, saying “there can be no state within a state”.

He followed that comment shortly by accusing the army chief and the ISI head of having acted “unconstitutionally and illegally” while submitting replies to the Supreme Court in the memo case.

The army retaliated almost in the same tone, warning the prime minister of “serious ramifications”.

But before the situation could turn ugly, mediators stepped in and Gen Kayani went to the Presidency last Saturday to offer truce in return for the government creating a conducive environment so that the two could live together.