Islamabad, Nov 17: Three Supreme Court (SC) judges have expressed a desire not to sit on a bench that is hearing petitions against President Pervez Musharraf’s proclamation of emergency and the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

Justices Nawaz Abbasi, Faqir Khokhar and Javed Buttar are the judges who are reluctant to sit on the concerned bench.

Hearing the petitions against the PCO and the emergency on Friday, Justice Khokhar said the judiciary’s failure had been cited as one of the reasons for emergency rule.

Justice Khokhar added that he was involved in decisions that had been criticised by the government, and therefore he should not sit on the bench that is hearing petitions against emergency rule.

"It is being said that the Supreme Judicial Council was made ineffective as a consequence of an order passed by the SC in the presidential reference against former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. It is matter of judicial propriety that I should not hear the petitions," he said.

Justice Abbasi said it was a misconception that the apex court had ordered the release of Lal Masjid militants in a suo motu case against the Lal Masjid operation.

Pakistan’s Attorney General Malik Qayyum said that judges should not feel sad as no SC verdict was criticised except a short order. To this, Justice Abbasi said every judgement was based on a short order.

On Qayyum’s statement that Justice Khokhar had become "over-sensitive" on the issue, Justice Buttar said: "If you are calling Justice Khokhar over-sensitive, it means you are justifying emergency rule."

"It is a serious matter. If Justice Khokhar is not in the bench, then how I and Justice Buttar can be," Justice Abbasi observed.

The judges said that they would take a decision in this regard on Monday, the Daily Times reported.

Qayyum, later told reporters that the Chief Justice of Pakistan Abdul Hameed Dogar would reconstitute the SC bench if the three justices refused to hear the petitions. (ANI)