Hello i am glad this iss my first pist and this is just to test the template.KARACHI (AFP) — Pakistani lawyers and activists were set to set out on a "long march" from Karachi to Islamabad Thursday, defying a ban on demonstrations as they try to force the government to reinstate sacked judges.

Several hundred activists were detained Wednesday as authorities attempted to thwart the protest, which is expected to further weaken a government struggling with political crisis, economic meltdown and Islamist violence.

Security forces are on alert amid fears of violence, and a 19th century British law has been invoked banning protests in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, as well as their respective provinces of Sindh and Punjab.

Organisers are hoping that hundreds of thousands of lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists will join the four-day convoy on the 1,500-kilometre (940-mile) journey to Islamabad, where it is expected to arrive on Monday.

They want unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari to act on his promise to reinstate judges sacked in 2007 by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, including Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the most popular opposition leader, has joined forces with the lawyers and on Wednesday urged people to rise up to "change the destiny of Pakistan" in what will be the third such annual march.