**At the same time we also need electoral reforms, fair and free election commission, proper functioning of the powerful Public Accounts Committee , NAB Chairman and all other important appointments through parliamentary committees instead of just PM or Opposition Leader being the authority to appoint them
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Analysis: Pakistan Parliament Emerges From Protests Triumphant
As Imran Khan’s Protests and Government Weaken, Country’s Legislature Stands Firm and United
Imran Khan, in red scarf, embraces fellow protest leader Tahir ul Qadri in early October. ASSOCIATED PRESS
By SAEED SHAH
Updated Nov. 3, 2014 1:58 p.m.
**ISLAMABAD—**Pakistan’s parliament is emerging as the main beneficiary of the country’s crisis as the monthslong protests in Islamabad weaken along with their main target, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Opposition politician Imran Khan, who continues to lead protests even after the larger contingent drawn by cleric Tahir ul Qadir pulled out last month, accuses the prime minister of rigging the May 2013 election, a charge Mr Sharif rejects. In the initial days of the protest, which began in Islamabad on Aug. 15, Mr. Sharif’s government tottered on the brink of collapse, but later all parliamentary parties except Mr. Khan’s united behind the prime minister.
“This winner is parliament,” said Ijaz Gilani, head of the polling organization Gallup Pakistan. “Never before has the parliament stood up to defend civilian supremacy and the constitution.”
Since 1958, parliament has been dismissed nine times under the sort of crisis that Mr. Khan provoked, with the military repeatedly citing political division as grounds to shut down the legislature.
The difference this time was that all the other opposition parties sided in parliament with the government, seeing Mr. Khan’s demands as undemocratic and backed by undemocratic forces.
It isn’t clear to what extent the country’s armed forces benefited from Mr. Khan’s protests. While the military has reasserted its influence over foreign-policy and security matters, it has also been forced on the defensive by accusations that it secretly backed the attempt to oust Mr. Sharif, analysts said.
As for Mr. Khan, a former cricket star, Mr. Gilani’s polling found that the constant airing of his message on Pakistani TV channels hasn’t increased his following. His polls suggests the crisis has solidified existing support for Mr. Khan but turned the opinions of others firmly against him.
In the past, Mr. Khan personally polled favorably even among voters of other parties, offering him a possible opening to convert those voters into supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
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But two weeks into the protest, Mr. Khan’s personal approval rating had fallen to 34 percent from around 50 percent at the start of this year, Gallup found.** More recent polling has not been done.
Although Mr. Khan’s two key demands—the prime minister’s removal and an independent investigation into the rigging allegations—haven’t been met, he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he had achieved something bigger.
“I never imagined this sort of political consciousness in the country would happen in my lifetime,” said Mr. Khan after giving his nightly speech to supporters in Islamabad. **“The word has spread everywhere. It’s gone beyond the election rigging case. It’s become a movement for rights.”
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Mr. Khan added that he is convinced that he will yet oust Mr. Sharif from power. “The only thing that would stabilize him is performance, which he is unable to deliver, so basically it is a question of time,” he said.
During the months of protest, Mr. Khan has broadened his onslaught to include a critique of injustice in Pakistani society and bad governance. Pakistan’s content-hungry news channels have given his protest prime-time coverage since it launched, projecting Mr. Khan’s message into millions of homes every day.
“Imran Khan has become a better communicator and has got the attention of the public, which is a big gain for him,” said Amir Mateen, a newspaper political columnist. “Nawaz Sharif is lucky that he survived.”
At the height of the protest, according to independent estimates, some 50,000 people gathered in Islamabad, most of them Mr. Qadir’s supporters, who slept on the streets. Mr. Qadri quit the demonstration on Oct. 21.
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On Saturday, only around 1,500 people gathered in the evening to hear Mr. Khan’s speech. His television coverage has also been reduced in recent days. Mr. Khan plans to reinvigorate the protest by staging a big demonstration in Islamabad on Nov. 30.**
Even though Mr. Sharif has managed to stay in office, Mr. Khan’s challenge shredded the confidence of the administration and its willingness to take initiatives, a senior government official said. The government has admitted that the protests damaged ts economic revival plans.
“If the turnaround in the economy that started a few months ago was not interrupted, as it was by the people at the sit-ins, then definitely there would have been improvement in Pakistan,” Mr. Sharif told a Cabinet meeting Friday. “There was a long queue of foreign investors who wanted to come to Pakistan and invest. They did not come.”
But whatever the economic costs, many Pakistanis see a political gain in the way the parliament stood firm as an institution against the protests and the military rule some contend could have emerged from them. The legislature’s unity, they say, is what forced the army to step back from a possible takeover.
A senior retired official said elements in the top ranks of the military had initially supported the protest. But the army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, eventually decided against a coup.
The armed forces have been at odds with the government over a range of **defence and foreign policy issues, **but have rejected allegations of any links to the demonstration. In a speech on Oct. 18, Gen. Sharif said that the military had “unequivocal commitment to true democratic values and rule of law.”
***—Qasim Nauman contributed to this article.