News Analysis: Judicial Commission's ruling averts political crisis in Pakistan

A political crisis has been averted in Pakistan after the Judicial Commission ruled that the 2013 parliamentary elections in the country "had been organized and conducted fairly and in accordance with the law".

In its nearly 300-page ruling released on July 24, the three- member Judicial Commission unanimously rejected all allegations of organized rigging, stealing of mandate and manipulation of the polls.

Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk headed the three-member Commission. The Commission was established in April this year after the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) or Justice Movement agreed to end its over three months of anti- government sit-in demonstration in the capital Islamabad.

The sit-in disrupted life in Islamabad and pushed the whole country to the brink of a political chaos. Officials said that the country had suffered financially due to the protracted protests. Several heads of state were reported to have cancelled their scheduled visits to Pakistan because of the protests.

The PTI has formally accepted the commission's ruling after a two-day marathon discussion in Islamabad. Imran Khan, the PTI chief, announced on Saturday that his party has accepted the commission's findings.

Other parties, including the main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), also accepted the commission's ruling. In fact, the PPP has called on the PTI to now actively participate in the deliberations in parliament and help strengthen the opposition.

A number of PTI lawmakers had earlier submitted their resignations as part of their protest action against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

For the past several months, the Pakistani public has been waiting for the verdict of the commission which, if anti- government, could mean political unrest and even chaos. It took the commission four months to conduct hearings to investigate the charges of irregularities in the last parliamentary polls.

As an independent body, the commission provided equal opportunities to all parties involved to submit and substantiate proofs of alleged rigging of the elections. The government was also given ample opportunity to rebut all allegations.

The May 2013 elections were won by the Pakistan Muslim League ( PML-N) party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But the PTI claimed that the elections were rigged and that the PML-N won because of massive fraud. Besides the PTI, 21 other parties had also registered complaints about the alleged fraud in the elections.

Earlier, Sharif told the nation that the government was committed to calling for new elections if the Judicial Commission had ruled that there was indeed massive fraud in the May 2013 elections.

The commission's finding brought a sigh of relief to Prime Minister Sharif. In a televised address after the verdict of the commission was announced, Sharif urged all opposition parties to " move beyond the era of allegations and politics of negativity, and work for democratic stability, progress and prosperity."

He said that it is now time for all Pakistanis to focus on the serious problems, foremost of which are the war on terrorism and the worst energy crisis that the country has ever experienced.

Although the commission rejected charges of election fraud, it, however, cited some flaws on the manner in which the Election Commission of Pakistan conducted the 2013 polls. Officials of the poll body were quick to respond that they would look into the commission's recommendations and take the necessary measures to ensure fairness and transparency in future elections.

The government, for its part, has formed a multi-party committee to study and recommend electoral reforms that would give all parties equal opportunities to participate in the country's electoral process and prevent charges of electoral shenanigans in the future. Endi