Thousands of Pakistani lawyers and other opponents of President Pervez Musharraf have embarked on a march aimed at reinstating judges sacked by the embattled leader.
The protestors gathered in the southern city of Karachi and then set off to travel through several large towns on the way to a major demonstration in Islamabad on Thursday.
The rally will put pressure on both President Musharraf, who at the weekend denied speculation that he was to quit, and also on the new coalition government as it struggles to agree on how to restore the judges.
Pakistani lawyers have bitterly opposed President Musharraf, who seized power in a coup nine years ago, since he tried to sack the country's outspoken chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in March 2007.
That move sparked mass protests and the Supreme Court later overturned Judge Chaudhry's suspension, but Mr Musharraf struck back in November by imposing a state of emergency and deposing the judge and other senior colleagues.
President Musharraf has since been weakened by the defeat of his allies in general elections in February and the ruling coalition is set to introduce legislation that would curb his powers.
The new government has pledged to reinstate the judges sacked by the president, but differences over how to do it have caused a split between former premier Nawaz Sharif and members of slain ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto's party.
The coalition is also divided over how to tackle President Musharraf, with Mr Sharif demanding that he be tried for treason but Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, steering clear of a standoff with the president.
