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Karachi: Thousands of Pakistani activists and lawyers gathered in major cities on Monday to kick off a series of protests aimed at pressuring the new government to restore judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf.
The so-called "Long March" is planned to culminate in a rally in the capital, Islamabad, later in the week.
The protests by Pakistan's lawyers' movement, which spearheaded opposition to Musharraf's rule last year, could intensify calls for the US-allied former army strongman to resign and widen rifts between the country’s newly elected parliament.
In Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, Sabihuddin Ahmed, the deposed chief justice of the high court in the southern province of Sindh, saw off a convoy of dozens of vehicles headed to the main gathering point of the rally, the central city of Multan.
"Today is the historic day that the lawyers and judges have come out to protect the country and the constitution," Ahmed said.
Some 4,000 political activists from parties including the PML-N gathered and chanted slogans such as "Go, Musharraf, Go!" and "Musharraf is an American dog!"
Security forces were also out in large numbers, but the rally was peaceful.
Karachi Bar Association secretary Naeem Qureshi said convoys of lawyers from other cities including Hyderabad, Nawabshah and Sukkur will merge with the Karachi procession, all heading to Multan.
About 600 kilometers north of Karachi, a convoy of some 350 lawyers and political workers left the city of Quetta for Multan. Before leaving, the lawyers, wearing black armbands, gathered outside Quetta District Bar where they chanted anti-Musharraf slogans.
Aitzaz Ahsan, a key leader in the lawyer's movement, said the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, would greet the protest convoys as they reach Multan on Tuesday and see them off the following day as they head to Lahore.
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