Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari has urged opposition parties to negotiate an end to the country's political crisis while vowing to maintain law and order "at all cost" in the face of gathering anti-government protests.
The protesting lawyers and opposition supporters made a bid to march to the city's High Court to protest the government's refusal to reinstate judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf. (www.hXen.com)
Opposition political parties plan to join the lawyers, who are staging a 'Long March', with protestors travelling by road from cities across the country and planning to converge on Islamabad on Monday.
However, analyst Ishtiaq Ahmed, believes unity is what Pakistan needs now.
"Pakistan is facing a mortal threat from terrorists and political instability is something that we really cannot afford at this stage. So, the government has to reach out to the opposition, to the lawyers movement and somehow find some specific solutions and I think it is possible to resolve the crisis and find a middle way."