Clad in their trademark black suits and ties, Pakistan’s lawyers took to the streets today to press the winners of a parliamentary election to re-instate the deposed Chief Justice and remove President Pervez Musharraf.

The lawyers clashed with police in four of Pakistan’s main cities just hours before the Pakistan People’s Party, which won the most seats, and the Pakistan Muslim League (N), which came second, announced a breakthrough in talks to form a coalition.

Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s widower and successor as PPP leader, and Nawaz Sharif, the PML (N) leader, have vowed to put aside decades of hostility and form a government of national consensus.

But the lawyers’ protests spotlighted the two most fundamental issues dividing the parties -- how to handle Mr Musharraf and Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the chief justice he sacked in November.

They also illustrated the widespread hostility towards the US and British governments, which are widely perceived to be continuing to prop up Mr Musharraf as an ally in the War on Terror.

Mr Chaudhry, who has been under house arrest since his dismissal, addressed the lawyers earlier in the day via a mobile phone smuggled past riot police guarding his home in Islamabad, the capital.

“Victory is not far off now,” he told lawyers in the southern city of Karachi, where police used tear gas to disperse about 100 rock-throwing advocates calling for Mr Musharraf’s resignation.

“There are occasions when a nation passes through defining moments and the Pakistani nation is passing through this defining moment now,” Mr Chaudhry told lawyers in Lahore.

Later, about 200 lawyers chanting “Go, Musharraf, go!” dragged aside the barbed wire barricades around Mr Chaudhry’s home and scuffled with a similar number of riot police blocking their way.

As police fired the first tear gas canisters, the lawyers were joined unexpectedly by Mr Sharif, the former Prime Minister who was ousted by President Musharraf in a coup in 1999.

“Musharraf’s days are over,” he told the lawyers through a loudhailer as his five security guards eyed the riot police nervously, their AK-47s at the ready.

“In a few days time the chief justice will come out of this house and sit as the chief justice of the Supreme Court,” he said. “Musharraf is illegal and unconstitutional president.”

Mr Sharif’s feisty rhetoric contrasted with Mr Zardari’s, fuelling talk that U.S. and British officials are pressing the PPP to work with Mr Musharraf.

Mr Sharif has consistently called for Mr Musharraf’s removal and Mr Chaudhry’s reinstatement -- one of the main reasons for his surprisingly strong performance in the election.

But Mr Zardari has been ambiguous, saying only that parliament should handle both issues -- and is losing credibility in the eyes of the lawyers, and many other Pakistanis, as a result.

The United States and Britain have also been pointedly non-committal on the issues, encouraging both parties to form a government instead of getting fixated on the fate of Mr Musharraf and Mr Chaudhry.

Robert Brinkley, the British High Commissioner, met Mr Zardari today and is scheduled to meet Mr Sharif today. Anne Patterson, the American ambassador, met Mr Zardari yesterday.

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