Removed from the post by President Pervez Musharraf last week, Chaudhry declined to take the official car and was preparing to walk to the Supreme Court, where the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) was meeting to hear the case against him.

But the security officials would not allow him and a scuffle followed in which Chaudhry, his wife and daughters were manhandled by the security personnel who put him in his car, television channels reported. He was taken to the Balochistan House, the changed venue of the hearing, where a number of his supporters were waiting. They clashed with the security men and in the melee the windscreen of his car was damaged.

Hundreds of lawyers and followers of the Islamist alliance Muthahida Majlis-e Amal showed up at the venue to express solidarity with Chaudhry. These included Liaqat Baloch, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, former ISI chief Hamid Gul and Pakistan People’s Party leaders Aitagaz Hasan.

“The allegations against me are useless and I will not give my resignation. My trial should be held in an open court so that everyone should know what is happening,” said Chaudhry. He has reportedly expressed reservations about some of the judges in the five-judge council as he had initiated disciplinary proceedings against them.

The hearing was adjourned to March 16.

In Karachi, some 400 lawyers held protests at the city court. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the lawyers on phone, saying that Chaudhry’s suspension was a direct assault on the judiciary.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties have announced a countrywide agitation in this connection. Terming the move as “illegal, unconstitutional and an attack on the judiciary”, they criticised the composition of the SJC too.

US-based rights body slams Musharraf

New York: Blasting Pakistan for “arbitrary detention” of the Chief Justice, a US-based human rights watchdog has demanded his immediate release, and called for cessation of the police crackdown on lawyers staging peaceful protests.

Urging release of the chief justice, Human Rights Watch also appealed to the US and other governments to push President Pervez Musharraf to promptly take meaningful steps to restore respect for the rule of law in Pakistan.

The watchdog termed the dismissal and detention of the senior judge as “illegal”.