Sharif barred from visiting judge

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Former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif has been stopped by police from visiting former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Mr Chaudhry is being prevented by the authorities from leaving his home.

The move came as opposition parties debated a series of demands which they plan to put forward as their condition for taking part in January's elections.

The chief justice and some colleagues were forced from office after refusing to swear allegiance to President Musharraf under the state of emergency.

Opposition demands

More than 100 supporters of Nawaz Sharif held a small but vocal protest at the entrance to the complex where many judges live in Islamabad.

Bhutto and Sharif have had different views on a possible boycott Their slogans denounced President Musharraf and demanded that the sacked judges be re-instated.

A barricade and lines of Pakistani policemen stopped them advancing any further.

Nawaz Sharif told the crowd he had come to show support for the judges. He would not rest, he said, until they were restored.

Mr Sharif's political gesture comes at a time of political debate.

Pakistan's main opposition parties are negotiating what they call a charter of demands.

It is a series of conditions they want fulfilled before they will agree to take part in January's elections.

At the moment, opposition figures say they are concerned the elections will not be free and fair - but a boycott could exclude them from the political process.

The fate of the judges seems to have become a sticking point.

It is thought that Mr Sharif wants the re-instatement of the judges before the election to be one of the opposition's joint demands.

But Benazir Bhutto may be taking a softer line - saying it is an issue parliament can address once the elections have been fought.