June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistani lawyers marched from Lahore to the capital, Islamabad, for a rally today outside parliament to demand the new civilian government removes President Pervez Musharraf and reinstates judges he fired last year.

The government and lawyers agreed on a code of conduct to ensure the protest is peaceful, Sherry Rehman, the minister for information and broadcasting, said yesterday, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan.

The judges will be restored, Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, which leads the coalition government, said in Karachi yesterday. ``We will strengthen democracy and the judiciary,'' APP cited him as saying.

Pakistan's coalition government split last month when ministers from the Muslim League, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, withdrew over disagreements with the PPP on how to restore the judges. The PPP is resisting the Muslim League's demand that Musharraf be impeached and has called instead for him to resign.

Leaders of the lawyers' movement say about 100,000 people will protest in Islamabad. Thousands traveled in a convoy to the capital, holding rallies along the way, after starting the protests five days ago in various cities.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, fired by Musharraf last November after he led challenges the president's moves to seek re-election, plans to travel with the lawyers to the capital.

Islamabad Security

The three-party coalition government increased police numbers in Islamabad and erected barbed wire outside the parliament building.

While the government and rally organizers agreed not to create any hurdle to the march, some areas are being cordoned off for security reasons, Sherry said yesterday, APP reported.

Musharraf has been able to cling to power because of divisions between the parties over the impeachment question and how to reinstate the 60 judges he fired in November as the Supreme Court considered a legal challenge to his tenure.

The PPP says it doesn't have the required two-thirds majority in the Senate, the upper house of parliament, to impeach him.

The 64-year-old president came to office in a 1999 military coup and in November last year gave up his main source of power by resigning as army chief. Musharraf said June 7 he won't quit the presidency and will fight moves to curtail his powers.

The U.S. government, which describes Musharraf as an ally in its ``global war on terror,'' is encouraging Pakistan's main parties, which defeated those loyal to the president in February's parliamentary elections, to keep him in office.

``We will not rest until Musharraf quits his office and the judges are restored,'' Sharif told a televised news conference late yesterday. ``We are fighting for the rule of law and for the survival of the country,'' he said, calling on Pakistanis to join the convoy.

To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at kqayum@bloomberg.net; James Rupert in Islamabad at jrupert3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 12, 2008 20:29 EDT