ISLAMABAD - A senior lawyer on Thursday filed a reference in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against eight judges of apex court for taking oath under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in the wake of November 3, 2007 and validating imposition of emergency in the country. Apex court lawyer, Habib Wahabul Khairi who is the Chief of Al-Jihad Trust, a public service institution, filed the reference in the office of Registrar Supreme Court, who is also the secretary of the SJC. In his plea, Advocate Khairi has asked the SJC to proceed against eight judges who include former Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice (Retired) Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice M Javed Buttar, Justice Ejaz-ul-Hassan, Justice Qaim Jan Khan, Justice Moosa K Leghari and Justice Ejaz Yousuf for taking oath under the PCO of a dictator and later validating his illegal action of imposing emergency in the country. Khairi has sought proceedings against these judges under Article 6 of the Constitution which provides that "Any person who abrogates or attempts or conspires to abrogate, subverts or attempts or conspires to subvert the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason". Demanding proceedings against these retired and serving judges of the apex court, Khairi has asked the apex court to dismiss those respondent judges who are in service at present and immediately withdraw all the facilities available to them as members of the top judiciary. His reference has also stated that the imposition of the emergency by the then Army Chief Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007 was declared illegal by a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court and the court had passed a judicial order prohibiting all judges of Supreme Court and high courts from taking oath under the PCO. Khairi also demanded that the respondent judges should also be deprived of any pensionary benefits as they had violated the order of the seven-member bench of the apex court and took oath under the PCO. Meanwhile, a petition filed in Supreme Court (SC) Lahore registry branch seeking registration of treason case against former President Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution has been sent to Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. In the petition filed through eminent lawyer Dr Farooq Hassan, it has been stated that the former President Pervez Musharraf took ultra constitutional step on November 3, 2007 under which over 60 judges of superior judiciary were house arrested due to their refusal to take oath under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). The former President Pervez Musharraf imposed PCO forcibly on superior judiciary while there was no room for such a step in the Constitution, the petition further stated. Pervez Musharraf also committed contempt of court and the fundamental rights of the people were affected due to November 3, 2007 steps when their right to seek access to independent judiciary was usurped, the petition said. The petitioner has also prayed before the court that the orders be issued for placing name of Pervez Musharraf in Exit Control List (ECL). This was Assad Hameed's last story on Thursday. He was shot dead outside his residence in Rawalpindi.