ISLAMABAD, March 18: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Sunday called an emergency meeting of coalition partners, including members of the federal cabinet, lawmakers, governors, chief ministers and some members of civil society at Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s residence to discuss the judicial crisis and to chalk out a line of action to meet the challenge posed by opposition’s aggressive campaign.

The meeting, called at short notice, was also attended by ministers and lawmakers belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), some of whom flew into the capital from Karachi and others from their constituencies.

The president is reported to have interacted with participants of the meeting in an informal manner, but his focus was clear. He directed them to remain in the field to inform the people about facts and face off the opposition’s challenge. An insider claimed that the president was unhappy with some members of the cabinet over their mishandling of the crisis and with some others who kept aloof from the situation which, he said, was created by opposition for point scoring.

Sources said that the president gave a detailed resume of what had transpired between him and Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Friday, refuting reports that the CJ had been harassed in any manner during the meeting.

He said that in fact the CJP had come to him to explain his position regarding complaints from Peshawar High Court judge Jehanzeb. It was the second meeting in one week, the president said, and in the second meeting he handed over the reference which had reached him by then and gave him time to read it.

When the CJP, he said, showed no signs of reconciliation he was duty bound to send the reference to the SJC which was the proper body to hold inquiry and decide on it.

According to sources, the president said that the government would accept the decision of the SJC. The president said that the government was ready to address grievances of lawyers but they were joined by political workers who were creating the trouble.

The president’s interaction in which Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also took part, continued for around three hours during which he gave them a resume of whatever happened over the past week and exchanged various proposals to handle the situation.

The president, the sources said, was perturbed by the fact that while the entire opposition parties had jumped into the fray by siding with the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the lawyers’ community, the government side was showing little or no resistance which was further encouraging the opponents.

According to an official handout, the president said that the government was determined to adhere to the rule of law and continue Pakistan's march towards progress and stability.

He urged parliamentarians to keep in close touch with the masses and expose the negative tactics being adopted against the government.

He said the reference about Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had been filed in the Supreme Judicial Council in keeping with the requirements of the Constitution and the verdict of the Supreme Judicial Council would be accepted by the government.

The president said that it was a sensitive matter and the bid to politicise a purely constitutional matter for narrow partisan ends was unfortunate.

The president said that all stakeholders, especially the lawyers' community, should not allow this judicial matter to be exploited by elements whose repeated and recurring calls for agitations had been rejected by the masses.

The president said the judiciary was an important pillar of the state and the government was committed to upholding its independence.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that the government was committed to upholding the supremacy of law and maintaining peace and calm in the country. He said the government would not allow anyone to take law into their own hands and would spare no effort to protect the life and property of the citizens.

The dinner was also attended by Lt-Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool, Governor of Punjab; Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, Governor of Sindh; Lt-Gen (retd) Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai, Governor of NWFP; Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, Chief Minister of Punjab; and Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Chief Minister of Sindh.