WASHINGTON, March 18: A political storm seems to be brewing in Pakistan but the country’s rulers are still underestimating its strength, warn reports and analyses published in the US media this weekend.

“The suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who did not shy away from taking on cases that challenged the government, has set off immense controversy and threatens to spiral into a constitutional crisis,” says the New York Times.

“The strength of public opposition to Mr Chaudhry's removal caught Gen Musharraf by surprise and continued to grow,” notes Los Angeles Times.

“More often than not, the judges (in Pakistan) have been rather pliable," Teresita Schaffer, a former US ambassador and a South Asia specialist, told the paper.

"And of course this guy turned out to be less pliable than the government wanted, and the government went after him."

Commenting on the situation, Boston Globe notes: “The heavy crackdown capped a week of growing protest that has presented Musharraf with a difficult challenge to his rule of the past 7 1/2 years. At stake, critics say, is the credibility of Pakistan's justice system and, perhaps, of Gen Musharraf's own leadership.”