Pakistani lawyers continue 'long march'

Lahore: Pakistan's lawyers embarked on the next phase of their three-day protest as they headed towards Islamabad from Lahore on Thursday.

Addressing the hundreds of protestors gathered at a rally in Lahore deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said a revolution had begun, stressing that the government could not function without an independent judiciary.

"If there's an independent judiciary the democratic system will work," he told the cheering crowds.

"You people have started a revolution which has to reach its logical conclusion," he said.

The so-called "long march", a cross-country protest that aims to pressure President Pervez Musharraf and the new parliament into restoring the judges, will culminate with a protest to parliament on Friday.

Both the government and lawyers have vowed that the rally will be peaceful.