Thousands of Pakistani lawyers and activists from various cities set off on Monday for Lahore to join a 'long march' aimed at pressurising the government to reinstate dozens of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf.
The lawyers, along with civil society activists and workers of various political outfits like the Jamaat-e-Islami, Tehrik-e-Insaf and PML-N, will make their way from Karachi and Quetta and other cities of the two provinces to Lahore, where the 'long march' to Islamabad will begin on Thursday.
The influential lawyers' movement decided to embark on the march after the Pakistan People's Party-led government failed to meet two self-imposed deadlines to reinstate the judges deposed by Musharraf for not endorsing last year's emergency rule.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, a key ally in the ruling coalition, has extended support to the protest even though the PPP had urged the lawyers' movement not to go ahead with the march as the government was working to restore the deposed judges through a constitutional amendment.
The PML-N has opposed the PPP's move to make the restoration of the judges part of a package of proposed constitutional reforms, saying they should be reinstated through a parliamentary resolution and an executive order issued by the Prime Minister.
The Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan has said the march will be peaceful. Ahsan asked people to support the protest to ensure an independent judiciary and the supremacy of law.
The protests by Pakistan's lawyers' movement, which spearheaded opposition to Musharraf's rule last year, could also intensify calls for the former army strongman to step down.
"Tight security arrangements have been made for the march," Rehman Malik, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs said and asked security agencies to take all steps to maintain law and order.
Deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will join the lawyers in Multan on Tuesday. The lawyers will then travel from Multan to Lahore, where they will be addressed by Chaudhry before they begin their march to Islamabad on Thursday.
Meanwhile, around 30 retired Pakistani diplomats, including three foreign secretaries,announced on Sunday that they would join the 'long march'.
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had on Sunday said that there were differences with other partners in the ruling coalition on modalities for reinstating the deposed judges. He added the PPP believed in independence of the judiciary and empowerment of parliament.