The thorn in Musharraf's side

If there is one man in Pakistan who may yet prove to be President General Pervez Musharraf's nemesis, it is chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, virtually under house arrest following emergency rule.

It was Gen Musharraf's botched decision to try to get Mr Chaudhry sacked as head of the supreme court back in March that marked the start of the general's problems.

Editorialists and commentators condemned Gen Musharraf's clumsy attempt to remove someone who was willing to stand up the government, and opposition political parties also rallied to the country's top judge.

In July, Gen Musharraf was forced to eat humble pie when the supreme court quashed misconduct charges against Mr Chaudhry and ordered him reinstated. Gen Musharraf has said that he was forced to declare a state of emergency and suspend the constitution because of an upsurge of terrorist violence, including suicide bombings.

But the more likely reason was a forthcoming ruling from the supreme court that Gen Musharraf's landslide victory in October was invalid because he had not stepped down as head of the army. In the crackdown, lawyers and opposition politicians seemed the particular target of security forces and Mr Chaudhry is now confined to his house.

The judge however remains defiant and true to form - today he urged lawyers to carry on their protesting. "Go to every corner of Pakistan and give the message that this is the time to sacrifice," the judge told lawyers by mobile phone. "Don't be afraid. God will help us and the day will come when you'll see the constitution supreme and no dictatorship for a long time."

This is par for the course for Judge Chaudhry who has challenged the government on several occasions. Just before the declaration of emergency rule, for example, the court rejected the deportation of the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who was expelled when he tried to return in September.

The court even admonished the chairman of Pakistan International Airlines for trying to conceal information about the incident and there was the possibility of the prime minister facing contempt charges over the Sharif affair - which would have been a first in Pakistan.

Commentators say Judge Chaudhry had become a thorn, if not an outright threat, to the government because he had begun to take the constitutional guarantee of judicial independence too seriously and was poking his nose into delicate government business.

The judge caused intense annoyance and embarrassment to the government when he overturned the much-publicised privatisation of a steel mill. The prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, emerged damaged from the episode, accused of approving the under-priced sale of a major national asset.

The chief justice also took up cases of "forced disappearances" - people believed to have been picked up by the country's powerful intelligence agencies without due process of law.

The case that drew most concern from Gen Musharraf was a ruling on whether he could simultaneously hold the posts of president and army chief and whether the present parliament can re-elect the general as president - as it did in October.

But justice Chaudhry has also had his critics. His gruff style offended many lawyers and government officials. It was an open letter addressed to the chief justice by Naeem Bokhari, a flamboyant lawyer and television talk show host, criticising him for his conduct and alleged nepotism that sparked efforts to get the judge sacked in March.

However, all that did was to turn Judge Chaudhry into an unlikely pro-democracy hero, with thousands taking to the streets to demonstrate against Gen Musharraf. The chief justice could emerge as a focal figure yet again now that the general has thumbed his nose at his western backers and declared emergency rule.