Pakistani lawyers flanked by political and rights activists Thursday set out on the final leg of their cross- country march into the capital Islamabad to press the government for reinstatement of more than 60 judges axed by President Pervez Musharraf, according to dpa. Junior coalition leader Nawaz Sharif, whose government was toppled by Musharraf in 1999, saw off the vehicular rally termed a "long march" as it began the journey from the eastern city of Lahore amid much fanfare. The march that will cross through dozens of towns during its 270 kilometres journey is likely to reach Islamabad late Thursday or early Friday where the protesters have planned to stage a sit-in outside the parliament building. Crowds lining the streets in Lahore showering the convoy with rose petals and waved party flags while yelling slogans that invited the public to join their struggle launched to "save the country." Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has vowed to support the campaign till its logical end. The rally that started off on Monday from the southern port city of Karachi initially called for the ouster of Musharraf but senior attorneys later shifted the focus to the governing coalition that had given a pledge to restore the judiciary. "Musharraf will be gone in next the few days and the public will celebrate it, but the (deposed) judges will remain sacked," said Aitzaz Ahsan, senior attorney and the head of lawyers' movement. He was also Chaudhry's lead counsel when the top judge was taken to the dock by the embattled president in March 2007 over charges of misconduct in an abortive attempt to remove him, said on Wednesday. The justice was reinstated in the third week of July 2007 after a dramatic uproar by the lawyers' community that was backed by opponents of the military president. Musharraf later purged the judiciary of independent-minded adjudicators when he proclaimed emergency rule on November 3 to preempt a possible verdict against his controversial re-election, triggering countrywide protests by lawyers and the civil society. The public sentiment against Musharraf translated into the defeat of his political allies in the February 18 general elections that saw the outright victory of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Sharif's PML-N. Both parties agreed on the judges' reinstatement but later developed serious differences over the mechanics, forcing the PML-N to pull out its members from the cabinet in protest. Asif Ali Zardari, who succeeded Bhutto as the PPP head, insists that the restoration must be brought through a controversial constitutional reforms package, but Sharif wants the job done through a parliamentary resolution as agreed upon by them in March. Meanwhile, authorities have intensified security in and around the capital and declared the area around the parliament building a "red zone," banning public access to it. Boulevards leading to the site were earlier sealed using cargo containers and concrete blocks but those were replaced with barbed wires and steel barriers after public criticism. Analysts say the assemblage of a large crowd in Islamabad would create immense pressure for the ruling PPP which is believed to be delaying the restoration. Once restored, the defiant judges could accept legal challenges to a law passed by Musharraf under which Zardari was acquitted of numerous graft charges. However, Zardari argues that his party was working for "independence of judiciary" rather than focusing on any specific personality (Chaudhry).
