ISLAMABAD, Sept 10 The Supreme Court was requested on Thursday to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf for illegally restraining superior court judges from judicial work.

Filed by Advocate Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam Ghuman under Article 204 of the Constitution, the petitioner pleaded before the court to summon Gen Musharraf and punish him in accordance with the law in the larger interest of justice.

It may be mentioned that on Advocate Ghuman's complaint, police had earlier registered a case against Gen Musharraf and his unnamed collaborators for detaining superior court judges and their families in their houses following the proclamation of emergency on November 3, 2007.

The petition contended that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and 59 other superior court judges who had refused to take oath under the Nov-3 Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) were illegally stopped from judicial work and detained inside their residences.