CHICHAWATNI, 25 June 2007 — Pakistan’s chief justice carried his fight for the independence of the judiciary deep into the south of Punjab province yesterday, milking support from towns along the way.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has become a symbol of resistance to President Pervez Musharraf, since he refused to quit in the face of pressure from the country’s military leader and intelligence chiefs in March.

“Chaudhry’s refusal not to bow to generals who threatened him of dire consequences is the real lifeline of this movement,” Aitzaz Ahsan, the leader of the legal team fighting misconduct charges against the judge, told some 1,500 lawyers in Sahiwal in the city’s courthouse.

Opposition party workers and ordinary people watched speeches by the judge and senior lawyers on a big screen set up outside.

A lawyers movement has spread throughout the country in support of the judge, and opposition parties and the independent media have rallied to his cause, unnerving the government in a crucial election year.

The army’s top brass issued a statement of support for Musharraf this month, and the United States also offered broad backing, while encouraging the general to hold free and fair elections.

For all the fervor around him, the judge himself has avoided overt attacks on the government.

“I believe lawyers today have taken responsibility to enforce rule of law and to make judiciary superior,” Chaudhry told the Bar Council in Sahiwal, a city 170 km southwest of the provincial capital, Lahore.

The judge’s trips into the provinces have taken on all the characteristics of an election campaign.

In the nearby Chichawatni town, a stage was set up in the city’s main square, while a song that has become a theme tune of the lawyers movement, blared out from giant speakers — “Uncle, why don’t you take off your uniform.”

A dozen dancers clad in red and yellow traditional dress performed in front of Chaudhry’s car as he entered the city while a pipe band played, and anti-Musharraf slogans rang out through a cacophony of drumbeats and firecrackers.

The final destination for the cavalcade of cars travelling with the judge was the city of Multan, normally less than a four hour drive from Lahore.