Islamabad: Former Pakistan premier and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Thursday told hundreds of protesting lawyers that the days of President Pervez Musharraf's regime were numbered and assured them that deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry would be reinstated soon.
The lawyers had gathered on Thursday afternoon at the Judges Colony, where Chaudhry has been under house arrest since he was sacked by Musharraf during last year's Emergency rule, despite strict security arrangements made by police.
The members of the legal fraternity and civil society activists removed concrete and barb wire barricades and pushed back police as they tried to march to Chaudhry's residence.
Police acted with restraint during the first protest by the lawyers since Opposition PPP and Sharif's PML-N emerged as the two largest parties in the February 18 general election. The PML-Q, which backs Musharraf, was routed in the polls.
Amid fears of a confrontation between police and the lawyers near Chaudhry's home, Sharif and his brother Shahbaz drove to the Judges' Colony and joined the protesters.
Standing on the footboard on his armoured vehicle, Sharif addressed the lawyers and vowed to reinstate Chaudhry and other judges, sacked for not endorsing the Emergency. "God willing, Chief Justice Chaudhry will be back in the Supreme Court very soon," he said to loud cheers from the lawyers.
Sharif said the days of Musharraf's regime were numbered following the polls and asked protesters to exercise restraint instead of engaging in confrontation.
Noting that they had struggled against the military regime for several months, he asked them to wait for a 'few more days' so that Chaudhry could be reinstated.
The protesters began dispersing slowly after the address by Sharif, who then drove away from the Judges Colony. Lawyers also organised protests in Lahore and Karachi to press for reinstatement of deposed judges.
"The time will come soon when we will bring back the deposed Chief Justice and other judges to the courts," Sharif said as the lawyers shouted anti-Musharraf slogans and held up portraits of Chaudhry.
"Mr Musharraf is illegal and unconstitutional," he said. "The situation in Pakistan has changed and the time will come when all the judges are reinstated."
Sharif congratulated the lawyers for their struggle for the supremacy of rule of law and greeted them on the election victory of anti-Musharraf parties.
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