PESHAWAR, July 31 The Supreme Court's verdict declaring the imposition of emergency on Nov 3, 2007 as unconstitutional will affect nine of the 13 judges of the Peshawar High Court.

The nine judges include three permanent judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order after the emergency was imposed on Nov 3, 2007 and six additional judges who were appointed by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in consultation with the then chief justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar.

The three permanent judges to be affected with the Friday's verdict are Justice Jehanzeb Raheem, Justice Said Maroof Khan and Justice Hamid Farooq Durrani.

The six additional judges affected with the verdict are Justice Muhammad Alam Khan, Justice Shahji Rahman Khan, Justice Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik, Justice Yahya Zahid Gillani, Justice Ziauddin Khattak and Justice Musaddiq Hussain Gillani.

Only four of the high court judges would not be affected with the apex court's judgment -- Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan, Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai, Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan. When the emergency was clamped they were the only judges out of serving 13 who had not taken oath under the PCO.

The judgment would also affect the sanctioned strength of the Peshawar High Court as it would be reduced to the previous status. The high court sanctioned strength was earlier 15 judges including the chief justice which was enhanced to 20 when the Finance Act was passed in 2008.

Apart from Justice Muhammad Alam, who was a practicing lawyer, rest of the five additional judges belonged to the subordinate judiciary and were district and sessions judges.

These judges were appointed as additional judges of the high court on Dec 13, 2007, for a period of one year under the PCO. Two days later they took fresh oath on Dec 15, 2007, under the Constitution along with other judges of the court. After a year their tenure was extended for another year.

Two of the judges of the Supreme Court from NWFP -- Justice Ijazul Hassan and Justice Qaim Jan Khan -- had initially taken oath under the PCO as judges of the high court and were later elevated to the Supreme Court in 2007. Following the Supreme Court verdict they are also affected. Now they cannot be reverted back to the high court as both of them had already attained the retirement age fixed for a judge of the high court.

Meanwhile, the legal fraternity welcomed the Supreme Court judgment and celebrated it by distributing sweets.

Scores of lawyers gathered at the barroom of the high court and were eagerly waiting for the pronouncement of the verdict for many hours. When the judgment was pronounced, the lawyers raised anti-Musharraf and Pro-Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry slogans.