ISLAMABAD, Nov 22: A seven-member bench of the Supreme Court hearing petitions challenging the imposition of the state of emergency is expected to announce its decision on Friday.

The bench was close to winding up arguments on Thursday on two identical petitions of Tikka Iqbal Mohammad Khan and Watan Party chairman Barrister Zafarullah Khan challenging the proclamation of emergency and the PCO, removal of judges of the superior courts and curbs on the media, when it decided to adjourn further proceedings for Friday.

Barrister Zafarullah Khan will take a few minutes to reply to points raised by the respondent’s side on his petition. The same right has been exercised by Advocate Irfan Qadir, representing Iqbal Tikka.

Defending Gen Pervez Musharraf as army chief, senior counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada told the court that a day before completing its five-year term, the National Assembly had endorsed the emergency and the PCO.He said the investments had almost stopped before emergency and the UAE was coming with a $5 billion project to set up an oil refinery.

Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum informed the court that emergency would be lifted the moment the law and order situation in the Frontier province improved.

He said that compared with the past emergencies and martial laws, the current emergency had a unique feature because no civil authority had been displaced, the country was not being run by the armed forces, no military courts had been set up and all constitutional organs had been allowed to function independently. “This time we have done minimum deviation from the Constitution,” he said.

“This emergency is for a limited period as the political process has not been stalled and the election schedule has already been announced. No political party has been banned.”

He assured the court that Gen Musharraf would take off his uniform when the court allowed him to assume the presidency after deciding the eligibility case.

“It is always the duty of the army to step in and save the country from disastrous situation whenever circumstances existed of which the Constitution had no solution,” he added.

The AG said that the general law and order situation in the country had improved, adding that he would give a written statement before the court in this regard.

Without disclosing the name, the AG said the government had evidence against a Supreme Court judge who had bought a house for Rs4 million through a banking court judge when the actual worth of the house was Rs20 million.

Later the tenure of the banking judge was extended for this favour, he added.

“Much hype has been created by the media that the judges deposed under the PCO were independent judges,” the AG said, adding that all of them had taken the oath under the PCO while the former chief justice had taken the same twice.“At different times 120 judges took the oath under the PCO,” he said, adding that the oath under the PCO did not prevent them from doing justice.