Police fired tear gas and baton charged lawyers during a demonstration in the southern port city of Karachi. They said nine lawyers were arrested during the rally. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Police fired tear gas and baton charged lawyers during a demonstration in the southern port city of Karachi. They said nine lawyers were arrested during the rally.

In eastern Lahore about 2,000 lawyers and political party supporters chanted 'Go Musharraf, go' and, 'Restore independence of judiciary' during a rally.

'Victory is not far now and we'll achieve our goal for an independent judiciary soon,' Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, sacked from his post of chief justice by Musharraf in November, said in a telephone address to lawyers at the Sindh province High Court.

They were his first comments since Monday's parliamentary elections, which analysts and diplomats say have left the political future of Mr Musharraf in doubt.

When Mr Musharraf declared a state of emergency on November 3, he sacked 63 judges including then-Chief Justice Chaudhry, who was also detained at his home.

The independent-minded Chaudhry became a pro-democracy icon when he fought back against Mr Musharraf's initial attempt to oust him in March 2007 over allegations of misconduct and abuse of power.

Lawyers around the country have held regular on Thursday demonstrations since the judges' dismissal and have threatened a large-scale march on Islamabad next month if they are not reinstated.

In his address, Mr Chaudhry said Mr Musharraf's state of emergency 'in fact was a martial law'. He added there were no constitutional hurdles to returning the judges to their posts.

'I was deposed by an executive order and I can be restored by an executive order. There is no need of two-thirds majority of the parliament,' Mr Chaudhry said.

During his 35-minute speech the lawyers cheered, demanded Mr Musharraf's resignation and called, 'Long live Iftikhar'.

Opponents say Mr Musharraf imposed emergency rule amid fears that the Supreme Court, under Mr Chaudhry, was set to overturn his victory in a presidential election the previous month.

During the Karachi demonstration police baton-charged and fired tear gas at about 100 lawyers wearing suits and ties.

'We have arrested a few people and police had to use tear gas to disperse lawyers who were trying to hold a rally,' senior police official Tahir Naved said.

Lawyers later rallied outside Mr Chaudhry's house in Islamabad.

In Lahore the demonstrators staged a protest sit-in outside the provincial parliament before dispersing peacefully.

The party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, along with the party of another ex-prime minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, emerged as winners after Monday's parliamentary elections, putting more pressure on Mr Musharraf.

They have been considering a coalition and Mr Sharif has said his first act in a new government would be to get Mr Chaudhry back in his job.

'People have given their verdict, which shows that they have rejected the policies of the government,' Mr Chaudhry said from his home in Islamabad, where he is still under detention.

In a telephone address to lawyers in Lahore, he said it was now the responsibility of political parties trying to form a ruling coalition to 'work for the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and reinstatement of judges'.

He said he remains chief justice and all the others dismissed in November 'remain the judges legally. There is no hurdle in the reinstatement of judges, it needs only a simple official notification,' he said.

Lawyers in the central city of Multan boycotted the courts to press the case for restoration of the sacked judiciary. -- AFP