Chief Judge Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry is one of dozens of independent-minded Pakistani judges sacked late last year by President Pervez Musharraf. Chaudhry has been under house arrest since Nov. 3. On Thursday, several hundred lawyers showed up at his house in Islamabad, demanding that the new government immediately reinstate him and the other judges.

Among those outside Chaudhry's house was former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in negotiations with the leader of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party on forming a coalition government.

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