ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s President Musharraf faced a deepening crisis yesterday after six judges resigned following the dismissal of the head of the judiciary.

General Musharraf prompted the most serious challenge to his seven-year rule when he suspended the chief justice of the supreme court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, on March 9 over unspecified charges of misconduct.

The damaging controversy has cast the first doubts on the military ruler’s grip on power after Mr. Chaudhry refused to resign and lawyers launched a series of strikes and protests that resulted in bloody clashes with the police.

Lawyers continued to demonstrate against the dismissal yesterday as the judges submitted their resignations.

About 1,000 lawyers chanting “Go, Musharraf, go!” and “Free the chief justice!” rallied in the city of Karachi.

“I have waited a few days before addressing you, in the hope something will be done to remedy the harm done to the judicial organ of the state. It seems I have waited in vain,” wrote Jawad Khawaja, a high court justice in Lahore, in a resignation letter to the president.

In Karachi, a senior civil court judge, Ashraf Yar Khan, said he was resigning his post because of “the present situation in the country.”

Another judge resigned last week in protest over police manhandling of Mr. Chaudhry, claiming that the government’s actions against him had hurt the judiciary.

A strike and large protests across the country have been planned for tomorrow when a panel of judges will resume hearing Mr. Chaudhry’s case.

Critics claim that General Musharraf sought to remove the independent-minded judge to ensure a pliable judiciary before presidential elections due within a year.