later, in march 2009 when president of the supreme court bar association, kurd led protests by lawyers seeking the return of an independent judiciary. these protests were influential in the reinstatement of iftikhar mohammed chaudhry as chief justice. chaudhry had been removed from his position by musharraf and the decision was not reversed under the presidency of asif ali zardari until the lawyers began a mass march from lahore to islamabad that was supported by large crowds and coincided with rioting.