ISLAMABAD, 14 April 2007 — Thousands of Pakistani lawyers and opposition activists rallied yesterday in support of the country’s suspended top judge as he challenged a judicial panel hearing accusations against him.

The government’s move to sack Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9 outraged the legal community, which saw it as an attack on the independence of the judiciary, and galvanized political opposition to President Pervez Musharraf. But the protests have not spun out of control and analysts say Musharraf has the support of the military and can weather the storm. However, the controversy could complicate his expected efforts to seek another term as president later this year.

Flag-waving protesters, including lawyers and activists from a religious alliance and mainstream parties, chanted “Go Musharraf Go” and called for Chaudhry’s reinstatement as he appeared at the Supreme Court for the fourth hearing of his case.

“Our movement will end with the resignation of Pervez Musharraf,” Liaquat Baloch, a senior leader of the Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal, the religious grouping, told the crowd. Police with batons, helmets and riot shields blocked the road outside the Supreme Court to traffic but made no move to disperse the protesters, some of whom burned tires.

Lawyers wearing smart black suits and crisp white shirts held black flags and mobbed Chaudhry’s car as he arrived at court and again as he left. A couple of lawyers climbed on top of the vehicle.

Violence erupted at the first protests over Chaudhry’s suspension, but later ones have been peaceful.

Under the Pakistani system, the president is elected by the federal and provincial parliaments and the opposition has said it would challenge any move by Musharraf to seek re-election by the sitting assemblies, rather than new ones after polls.

Musharraf has said general elections will go ahead as scheduled around the end of the year and he has promised not to impose emergency.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan told the crowd the country was demanding democracy. “Nobody can stop this movement for democracy,” Khan said. “From this platform the message for Musharraf is: The people of Pakistan now demand true democracy, not dictatorship.”

Islamabad police said they had detained about 260 activists as a “preventive measure” but that didn’t stop a crowd showing up to protest and throw rose petals at Chaudhry as he arrived at court.

In the closed hearing, Chaudhry’s lawyers questioned the impartiality of three members of the five-judge panel hearing the case and demanded their removal, one of his lawyers, Munir Ahmed Malik, said afterward.

Aitzaz Ahsan, Chaudhry’s chief lawyer said that members of the panel — Justice Hameed Dogar and Justice Iftikhar Hussain — should be removed from the bench as cases of malpractices and corruption were pending against them. Ahsan also demanded an open trial for the suspended chief justice.

The panel will hold its next hearing on April 18. Hundreds of lawyers marched in the cities of Lahore, Karachi, and Quetta, witnesses said.

A uniformed effigy of Musharraf was torched in Lahore, where another 4,000 lawyers and opposition supporters rallied in front of the provincial assembly building, an AFP reporter said.

Hundreds of lawyers blocked a busy road in the southern city of Karachi and boycotted courts for the day.

Demonstration was also held in the northwestern city of Peshawar.