Judge galvanises support in Pakistan heartland

FAISALABAD, Pakistan, June 17 (Reuters) Thousands of lawyers and opposition activists greeted Pakistan's suspended chief justice as he travelled to the country's heartland on the weekend in a campaign against the president's move to sack him.

Supporters of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry waited through the night as his convoy took more than 20 hours to reach the industrial city of Faisalabad from the capital Islamabad, a journey that normally takes four hours.

Chaudhry and a convoy of lawyers and opposition supporters waving flags from their cars made several stops in sun-baked farming towns of Punjab province on their way to Faisalabad.

Thousands of opposition supporters lined roads and threw rose petals as Chaudhry's caravan inched its way through towns.

The suspension of Chaudhry on March 9 by President Pervez Musharraf, who is also army chief, has whipped up an anti-government campaign, uniting lawyers defending the independence of the judiciary and opposition parties eyeing elections due by the turn of the year.

Chaudhry, fighting for reinstatement through the Supreme Court, has steered clear of party politics and avoided public comments on his case since his suspension.

''Peace can be ensured in a society if justice is available to all people without any discrimination of poor and rich,'' he told a gathering of lawyers of Faisalabad and nearby areas today.

''If it happens then no one can suppress the people.'' Chaudhry's supporters, however, minced no words to oppose General Musharraf's move to sack him and called for an end to military rule in a country run by generals for more than half the 60 years since its formation.

'WAR IS RAGING' ''We have to ensure supremacy of justice and we have to get rid of generals... The war is raging between General Musharraf and lawyers and people of Pakistan,'' said Ali Ahmed Kurd, one of Chaudhry's lawyers.

Though Chaudhry is accused of misconduct, analysts believe Musharraf's motive for seeking his ouster was fear the judge would allow constitutional challenges against his plans to be re-elected, probably while still army chief, by the current assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election.

Chaudhry's chief lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan met US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher earlier this week, but US officials have confined comments on the judicial crisis to their hopes that it would be resolved through the courts.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Boucher met with Musharraf yesterday and offered broad support to Washington's embattled ally, while urging him to ensure elections due this year in Pakistan were free and fair.

The opposition campaign is the most serious challenge to Musharraf just months before he plans to get re-elected for a second five year term.

Musharraf has dismissed speculation he might impose a state of emergency to end the agitation against him and has vowed presidential and general elections will be held on time.

But the opposition is demanding he give up his post of army chief.

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