[JURIST] A Pakistani lawyers group Thursday pressed its campaign to defeat an expected re-election bid by President Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile], holding planned protest rallies and boycotting courts nationwide. Speaking on behalf of the lawyers, Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir Malik said [JURIST report] that the group's goal is to secure the resignation of Musharraf and to restore the 1973 Constitution [text]. Meanwhile, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been living in exile after being deposed in a 1999 military coup led by Musharraf, plans to return to Pakistan [JURIST news archive] on Monday to challenge Musharraf's re-election bid. Sharif's return was authorized by the Supreme Court in a ruling [JURIST report] last month.

Earlier this year Pakistani lawyers led a four-month campaign to reinstate suspended Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive] after Musharraf suspended him in March for alleged judicial misconduct. Chaudhry was reinstated in July, with all charges of misconduct [JURIST reports] dismissed. AP has more.