Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

As Chief Justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry emerged in 2007 as the central figure in the country for opposition to the plans of the country's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to extend his rule.

Mr. Chaudhry was born to a lower middle class family in the western city of Quetta in 1948, studied law at the local university and in 1974 started a practice there in various fields of law. In 1990, he became a judge of the Balochistan high court and was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2000, the year after General Musharraf seized power in a coup.

It was not until Mr. Chaudhry was appointed chief justice on June 30, 2005, that he began to challenge the legality of General Musharraf’s government. He blocked the privatization sale of a mill that would have profited the military, and raised “the issue of the number of political activists who have disappeared and are thought to be held by the state intelligence agencies, . Most damaging of all was his presumed opposition to Musharraf’s continuing as both President and Army chief.

The watershed day for Pakistanis opposed to General Musharraf was March 9, 2007, when Mr. Chaudhry was removed by the president on charges of misconduct, including demanding a later-model Mercedes as his official car. Mr. Chaudhry, insisting that he was innocent, refused to resign and appealed to the Supreme Court. The country’s lawyers, who championed his independence, took their protest to the people.

On May 12, Pakistani officials reported that 27 were killed in clashes in Karachi before Mr. Chaudhry could speak to a group of lawyers there. On July 17, a suicide bomber killed at least 14 people near an outdoor stage where Mr. Chaudhry was to address members of Pakistan’s opposition parties, but his convoy was several miles away.

On July 20, 10 of the 13 members of the Supreme Court ruled that General Musharraf’s action was illegal and restored Mr. Chaudry to the top post. And dancing broke out in the streets.

But the crucial issue was whether the Court would rule that Mr. Musharraf could not be president while continuing in uniform, or whether he was eligible for another term at all. On Nov. 3, apparently believing that the Court was about to rule against him, Mr. Musharraf declared a state of emergency and placed Mr.Chaudhry under house arrest, along with most of the other justices, who refused to swear a new oath. Mr. Chaudry reacted with defiance, saying that he hoped to re-create the protest campaign of this past spring, when lawyers rallied the people to his cause.

“The lawyers should convey my message to the people to rise up and restore the Constitution,” he told dozens of lawyers on a conference call before the line was cut. “I am under arrest now, but soon I will also join you in your struggle.”