The Chief Justice of Pakistan was ordered to be freed from house arrest yesterday by the new Prime Minister as more than eight years of military rule ended.

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was suspended and detained five months ago, is expected to resume his post today, along with 60 independent judges. They were removed by President Musharraf, who imposed a state of emergency and shackled the independent judiciary by appointing his own supporters in their place to secure his re-election while still army chief.

Mr Chaudhry is expected to resume his legal battle against the President, galvanising a wider campaign to force the former general from office.

The order to release Mr Chaudhry was given by Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was confirmed as Prime Minister yesterday. “I order all the detained judges to be released immediately,” Mr Gilani declared immediately after the National Assembly voted him in as the country's new leader.

Hundreds of Mr Chaudhry's supporters chanted “Go, Musharraf, go” as they stormed the judges' colony in Islamabad, removing security barricades and barbed wire around his residence. The move was regarded as a direct challenge to Mr Musharraf, who had accused the judges of undermining his rule. “We will defend democracy and uphold independence of the judiciary,” Mr Gilani declared.

An alliance of four parties, led by the Pakistan People's Party, is forming a government that has vowed to strip Mr Musharraf of powers to dismiss the elected Parliament. The judges could overturn his victory in the presidential election in October, which he secured while being army chief and President at same time, and effectively oust him from power.

Mr Gilani also called on the United Nations to investigate the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The former Prime Minister was killed in a suicide bomb attack after she had addressed an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi on December 27. The PPP leaders had rejected the Government's claim that the attack was masterminded by Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal commander in the South Waziristan region who is backed by al-Qaeda.

Mr Gilani, a long-time aide of Ms Bhutto, was elected Prime Minister by the lower house of Parliament with almost three quarters of the votes. He will be sworn in today by President Musharraf.

Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, Ms Bhutto's son, who watched the vote from the public gallery, burst into tears as the house resounded with “Long live Bhutto” after Mr Gilani's victory announcement. The 19-year-old student was appointed PPP chairman after his mother's death.

Mr Gilani, 55, a scion of an influential landowning family and a former Speaker to the National Assembly, will lead a broad coalition government mainly comprising the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (N) faction of Nawaz Sharif, another former Prime Minister. Mr Gilani faces the daunting task of holding together a volatile coalition, managing severe economic problems and tackling rising Islamic militancy. More than 250 people have been killed in militant attacks this year.

Times Recommends

• No apology for Germany’s own Nazi victims
• Intricate web of fear and hope tying down deal
• Victims remembered a year after Mumbai attacks