ISLAMABAD, May 15: President Gen Pervez Musharraf at a meeting with parliamentarians of the ruling PML and its coalition partners on Tuesday showed defiance in the face of criticism over the ongoing judicial crisis and shrugged off the criticism over Saturday’s killings and violence in Karachi.

Inside sources told Dawn after the meeting that the president was poised and composed during deliberations on the political turmoil, acts of terrorism in Karachi and elsewhere and gave guidelines to coalition partners for working cohesively as a well-knit unit.

He said there was no threat to the ‘democratic system’ and accused the opposition of politicising a judicial matter and creating chaos in the country.

About 150 lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao) and the PML-F attended the meeting.

The president said the government would deal with an iron hand with those creating unrest and involved in arson and laying sieges.

He again ruled out the possibility of a deal with the exiled leadership, saying “we have contacts with all political forces but he will not ditch the PML by striking a deal with any party”.

President Musharraf, after analysing the Karachi violence, judicial issue, political situation and government’s actions, asked participants to give their input.

He said he would seek re-election before next general elections and the present coalition partners would remain his team in the next government.

“I’m used to challenges and we’ll take on this challenge as well,” he said. An insider said: “The president’s tone and tenor gave a clear message to the participants that they cannot go beyond the agenda which he had explained.”

Then took place a tense open house in which the participants expressed their views and gave suggestions, some of which were either ignored or rejected.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also came under criticism on the question of what was termed ill-advised and ill-timed presidential reference against the CJP.

A member suggested action against those who had advised the president to file the reference in the Supreme Judicial Council against the chief justice, which had caused embarrassment to the government. The president, however, brushed aside the demand.

One lawmaker said: “Mr President, this reference is a conspiracy against you as you yourself have admitted in one of your speeches.”

And the prime minister in his brief remarks said: “Mr President, we are your team and we are determined to stand by your side.”

Representatives of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement refuted allegations of involvement in the planned terrorism in Karachi and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incidents to fix responsibility on those involved in the tragedy.

Some lawmakers, insiders said, tried to expose the MQM’s act but they were not encouraged.

The president said in unequivocal terms that he had decided to take on the current challenges and to go ahead with his plan of re-election in September-October and removing the bottlenecks in this way before that. He also asked the coalition parliamentarians that they should prepare for the next general election without taking any strain of the current situation.

Some members, according to the sources, wanted to talk against the MQM’s role in the Karachi violence but they were silenced politely. Some tried to provoke the president against the ones who had advised him on filing the reference against the CJP but they were snubbed too. The president asked them: “That is over now, see ahead.”

There was an overwhelming feeling in the meeting that before the Karachi incidents and in their follow-up, there was a lack of coordination between the Sindh chief minister and the interior ministry.

The meeting took serious notice that the Karachi incidents were over-sensitised by the media. Some members even proposed to put certain curbs on the media to stop it from causing undue sensitivities to events which could disrupt peace and tranquillity in the society.

A source said Pemra, which is working under the cabinet division, might be transferred to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. A way out must be found out to restrain media from unnecessarily politicising and sensitising things, some members said.