Pakistan: 'Prelude to a revolution'?

More turmoil in Pakistan won't do the country any favors as Islamists look for a greater foothold in the nuclear nation. Since Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was out and Asif Ali Zardari became president, there's been a shaky relationship between Zardari and the other opposition leader who stood against Musharraf: Nawaz Sharif.

Here's why: The opposition coalition used, as a point of contention against Musharraf, the fact that he'd deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and dozens of other judges because he feared the court tossing him from office. But now some analysts say that Zardari fears a similar result by reinstating Chaudhry, and thus has reneged on his vow to put him back on the bench.

Now:

"Pakistan's government is expected to announce the reinstatement of the country's deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in an apparent bid to defuse a political crisis.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Chaudhry's Islamabad residence in the early hours of Monday to celebrate the government's expected move.

Opposition leaders said Yusuf Reza Gilani, the prime minister, would make the formal announcement when he addressed the nation early on Monday.

...The reports came as Nawaz Sharif, the leader of Pakistan's main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, led a convoy towards the capital Islamabad where opposition supporters and lawyers were planning to hold mass demonstrations to press for the restoration of sacked judges.

...'Our destiny is Islamabad. We have left for Islamabad,' Sharif told Pakistan's Geo television in a telephone interview as he set off from the eastern city of Lahore.

'The response from the people is amazing. It is a golden moment in Pakistan's history. It is a prelude to a revolution.'

Political tensions have risen in Pakistan in recent weeks, with Zardari coming under mounting pressure since the supreme court banned Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, from holding elected office."