Premier Shaukat Aziz said the courts should "think about taking action" after a string of lawyers at a seminar attended by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday called on Musharraf to quit as army chief.

Chaudhry -- whose suspension by Musharraf in March has triggered an intense political crisis -- stopped short of naming the president but warned that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"It does not suit any Pakistani to speak against the armed forces because it effects our defence, integrity and prestige. We strongly condemn it," Aziz told reporters.

The armed forces had always helped Pakistan in times of need and the lawyers' remarks against them "have hurt the sentiments of all Pakistanis," the premier added.

"The judiciary should now think about taking action on this."

General Musharraf seized power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and has broken his pledge to give up his dual role as president-in-uniform.

His opponents say he sacked the independent-minded Chaudhry to weaken the courts as he bids to overturn a constitutional provision that says he should step down as army chief by the end of the year.

About 5,000 lawyers and opposition party members rallied outside the Supreme Court to greet Chaudhry ahead of Saturday's seminar on the independence of the judiciary.