Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday issued a detailed judgment declaring last year's emergency rule, Provisional Constitutional Order and follow-up actions justified and said that the cases of deposed judges could not be re-opened.

The apex court had passed a short order on the same issue on November 23 last year. The court issued the unanimous judgment written by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar that gave detailed reasons for the short order.

The Supreme Court had issued its order in response to two petitions filed by Tikka Iqbal Mohammad Khan and the Watan Party challenging the extra-constitutional measures.

In its short order, the court had validated the proclamation of emergency and follow-up actions by President Pervez Musharraf [Images]. The judgment made it clear that the chief justices and judges of the Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court and high courts who had not endorsed the Emergency till the issuance of the short order had ceased to hold their offices.

Their cases cannot be reopened as they were decided under the "doctrine of past and closed transaction", the apex court said.

The judgment said "some members of the superior judiciary, by way of judicial activism, transgressed the constitutional limits and ignored the well-entrenched principle of judicial restraint".

The court directed the President, the federal government and the Election Commission to ensure the holding of fair, free and transparent elections on February 18.