QUETTA, MARCH 31: Pakistan's deposed chief justice arrived in his hometown on Monday to a hero’s welcome as he launched a drive to win back his old job and deal another blow to embattled President Pervez Musharraf.

Pakistan’s new government freed Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry and other senior judges last week, more than four months after they were dismissed and put under house arrest by the US-backed president.

Hundreds of flag-waving political activists and black-suited lawyers gathered at Quetta’s airport to greet Chaudhry as he began the first in a series of trips across the country to build support for the judges’ reinstatement.

“I hope this is an important moment for the revival and independence of the judiciary,” said Nasir Yousafzai, a high court lawyer. “We are on the verge of victory.”

Chaudhry climbed into a bulletproof black sports utility vehicle which inched through the crowd. Well-wishers showered the vehicle in pink rose petals and chanted slogans including “Go Musharraf go!”

About a dozen pickup trucks carrying heavily armed anti-terrorist police escorted Chaudhry’s convoy as it headed into the city where he was due to address the bar association and visit relatives.

Musharraf replaced senior judges with appointees loyal to him when he declared emergency rule in November. His actions stirred popular resentment of military rule and spurred a political sea change in Pakistan more than eight years after the president took power in a military coup.

Musharraf could lose his already weakening hold on the presidency if the old judiciary returns because the Supreme Court could reconsider the legality of his contested re-election as head of state last year. Opposition parties swept Feb. 18 parliamentary elections and now lead a civilian administration.

One opposition party, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is eager to honor the new administration’s pledge to reinstate Chaudhry and dozens of other judges axed by Musharraf.

But the party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto appears less so, perhaps wary of provoking further confrontation with Washington’s key ally in its war on terror.

Supporters in Chaudhry’s home city of Quetta hope the independent-minded judge can tap the same groundswell of public sympathy that led tens of thousands to turn out to hear him address bar councils across the country after Musharraf first attempted to sack him last year.

The welcome for Chaudhry in Quetta, a city of 1.5 million people in the deserts of impoverished Baluchistan province, could add pressure on the new ruling coalition to reinstate the axed judges within 30 days. The countdown was to begin later Monday, when Musharraf was to swear in the new Cabinet.

“Musharraf is already on the run,” said Ali Ahmed Kurd, a veteran lawyers’ leader whose fiery oratory placed him at the forefront of the campaign against the president, a former army chief. “The moment the judiciary is restored, he’s gone.”

Chaudhry was to address lawyers at the Baluchistan High Court on Monday evening. He is to stay in Quetta for several days, and his next scheduled trip is the southern city of Sukkur.

Hadi Shakeel, president of the Baluchistan High Court Bar Association, played down fears of militant attacks on the rally. Quetta is widely regarded as a base for Taliban militants fighting in neighboring Afghanistan and ethnic Baluch rebels opposed to the Pakistan government.

“The risk is there, but the risk is less than it was because of the changed political situation,” Shakeel said. “People have more faith in the government now.”