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Chaudhry calls for discipline

Thousands of lawyers and opposition activists chanting slogans against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf welcomed the nation's suspended chief justice yesterday as he arrived in an eastern city to address the latest rally opposing military rule.

Lawyers and opposition supporters have staged street protests against Musharraf since March 9, when he ousted the Supreme Court's chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, for alleged misconduct.

Chaudhry has appealed his suspension before the Supreme Court, turning himself into a rallying point for political parties seeking the restoration of democracy.

Since his suspension, Chaudhry has traveled across the country, drawing tens of thousands of supporters to the streets and rallies where he has become a spokesman against authoritarian rule.

Some 2,000 opposition workers and lawyers welcomed Chaudhry amid chants of "Go Musharraf go" as he arrived early yesterday in Faisalabad, an industrial city in the eastern Punjab Province.

Supporters showered Chaudhry with flowers in the streets as he drove through to Faisalabad's main courts complex where he addressed a gathering of some 3,500 lawyers.

The crowd estimates were corroborated by a police intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

"I fully know that you have been struggling for the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law for the past three months," Chaudhry said.

"The nation has attached great hopes to your fraternity. So there should be no action from your side which has the risk of error," he said to the gathering at the lawns of the courts complex.

Chaudhry urged his supporters to remain united and disciplined. He did not elaborate on what risks he feared, but a May 12 visit by Chaudhry to the port city of Karachi resulted in riots that killed 41 people. A pro-Musharraf party was accused of instigating the violence.

On Saturday, crowds cheered Chaudhry in towns and villages as he drove from Islamabad to Faisalabad, about 250km to the south. The motorcade took nearly 22 hours to reach the city as it crawled past jubilant crowds. The trip usually takes about five hours.

An estimated 20,000 people turned out Saturday in Chakwal, a city near the halfway mark, to welcome the judge, local media said.

The furor over Chaudhry's ouster has presented Musharraf with his worst political crisis since he seized power in a 1999 coup by toppling the government of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Musharraf's term as president expires in October and he has said he will ask lawmakers to grant him another five years.

However, opposition leaders insist that he seek a new mandate only after parliamentary elections due by January in which they expect to make gains.

They are also pressing him to give up his dual role as head of the army -- the real source of his power.

Despite facing criticism at home, Musharraf still enjoys the support of his fellow generals and of Washington, which has given Pakistan billions of dollars in return for its help against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Friday during a trip to Pakistan that it was up to Musharraf to decide whether he should step down as army chief.
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