By IANS
Islamabad : The reinstatement of Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry follows four months of tumultuous protests across the country against his suspension by the government of President Pervez Musharraf. A timeline of events, from the appointment of Chaudhry to Pakistan's Supreme Court in 2000 follows.
February 4, 2000: Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry appointed judge to Pakistan's Supreme Court.
June 30, 2005: Chaudhry appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court.
March 9, 2007: President Musharraf suspends Chaudhry for "misuse of authority", details of which remain unspecified.
March 12, 2007: Lawyers begin boycott of court cases in support of Chaudhry, lasting several days.
March 13, 2007: Chaudhry appears before a closed hearing of senior judges to answer allegations against him.
March 16, 2007: Violence breaks out at an Islamabad rally in support of Chaudhry.
March 27, 2007: President Musharraf tells a rally in Rawalpindi that no one will be allowed to politically exploit Chaudhry's suspension.
March 28, 2007: Chaudhry makes his first public speech since his suspension, saying "Pakistan needs an independent judiciary and respect for the rule of law".
April 3, 2007: Chaudhry appears before a private session of the Pakistan Supreme Court, and demands the closed hearing be made public.
April 18, 2007: Chaudhry launches a challenge to the composition of the judicial bench hearing allegations against him.
May 6, 2007: At a rally in Lahore, where Chaudhry attacks "states which are based on dictatorship", his supporters claim that police detain hundreds to prevent them joining the protest.
May 12, 2007: In Karachi government activists clash with opposition supporters killing 34 and wounding over a hundred, as Chaudhry arrives to address a rally.
June 28, 2007: The government agrees to Pakistan's Supreme Court hearing Chaudhry's petition instead of the Supreme Judicial Council, even as the Supreme Court calls Chaudhry's suspension "a huge damage to the country".
July 2, 2007: Pakistan's Supreme Court criticises the government for making "scandalous" claims against Chaudhry and imposes a fine on the government.
July 17, 2007: A suicide bomber blows himself up, killing 13 people, outside the venue of a lawyers' rally in Islamabad that was to be addressed by Chaudhry.
July 20, 2007: A full 13-member bench of the Supreme Court reinstates Chaudhry as chief justice.