Islamabad: Pakistan's suspended chief justice was to lead a procession followed by a rally on Saturday amid mounting political pressure on military ruler President Pervez Musharraf. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the ousted head of the Supreme Court, was expected to lead his supporters from Islamabad to the northwestern city of Abbotabad, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) away, his lawyers said.

The march is the latest in a series of public displays of support for the judge since Musharraf suspended him on March 9 over alleged misconduct, sparking the biggest crisis of the president s eight-year rule. "The chief justice is going to address lawyers in Abbotabad at the invitation of the bar association," Munir A Malik, one of Chaudhry's chief lawyers, told AFP. He said the chief justice was due to leave Islamabad early in the morning. His supporters were expected to greet him at five different locations on the route from the capital to Abbotabad, Malik said.

Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani said the government would not try to stop Chaudhry attending the function in the hill resort, telling AFP: "He will go." The government was incensed when lawyers attending a pro-Chaudhry rally at the Supreme Court in Islamabad a week ago shouted slogans condemning Musharraf and the army's role in politics.

On May 12,Chaudhry had been due to speak to lawyers in the southern city of Karachi but had to abandon his plans when government supporters blocked roads and clashed with opposition activists. More than 40 people died in the violence.

Durrani on Thursday said the government would not tolerate disparaging remarks about the army and threatened to restrict live coverage of opposition protests. When asked later if the authorities had ordered private television channels not to broadcast Chaudhry's rally on Saturday, Durrani said: "No, we have not passed any instructions."

"The government s position is that the issue is sub judice (under legal proceedings). We do not want to make any comment about it," the minister added.

Pakistan s military top brass said in a statement late Friday that they had full confidence in Musharraf, who seized power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup in October 1999. The commanders said after a meeting focused on the internal situation in the country that there was a "malicious campaign against the institutions of state." The campaign was "launched by vested interests and opportunists who were acting as obstructionist forces to serve their personal interests and agenda even at the cost of flouting the rule of law," the statement said. Musharraf assured them that no one would be allowed to create instability in the country.

But Musharraf's position remains increasingly difficult with both presidential and parliamentary elections due by late this year or early 2008.
Opponents say Musharraf suspended the independent-minded Chaudhry to ensure a pliant judiciary if, as expected, he tries to remain as army chief past the end of 2007,when the constitution says he is due to hang up his uniform.