Hong Kong: Pakistan lawyers plan to hit the streets again to demand the government quickly reinstate judges ousted by President Pervez Musharraf, a leader of the country's lawyers protest movement said today.

Munir A Malik said the leadership of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association will meet on Saturday to finalise protest plans.

Malik, former president of the association, said demonstrations will likely start with a nationwide convention of lawyers in Lahore and eventually move on to the Parliament building in the capital, Islamabad. He did not give a date for the protests.

"We are absolutely prepared" to protest, Malik told a news conference in Hong Kong. But he said the lawyers would tread carefully so the army wouldn t use the demonstrations as an excuse to intervene.

Musharraf is a former army strongman who took power in a 1999 coup.

Malik's comments came after talks between the two main partners in Pakistan's six-week-old ruling coalition failed to reach an agreement on how to reinstate the judges Musharraf dismissed.

Musharraf imposed emergency rule and purged the Supreme Court in November to forestall a ruling on his eligibility for office.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry was put under house arrest after the emergency and Musharraf also purged other judges.

Malik was in Hong Kong to receive an award from the Asian Human Rights Commission for him and his successor as president of the bar association, Aitzaz Ahsan. They were honoured for their work with the lawyers movement.

Source : PTI