PMLQ leader Chaudhry Sarwar wants to join PTI again

LONDON: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ) Chief Organiser and former Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar wants to join the PTI again but is struggling to get any traction so far.

After leaving the PTI around the time of the no-confidence vote in April 2022 and refusing to act upon orders of Imran Khan, the former prime minister, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar had entered into discussions with the Pakistan Muslim League-N for a possible entry into the party but Nawaz Sharif shot the idea, citing Sarwar’s defection to the PTI after Imran Khan and Dr Qadri’s failed dharna in 2014.

Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar joined the PMLQ in March this year and was made its chief organiser but he has been living in Scotland for several months now, taking no interest in the PMLQ affairs. It was hoped at one stage that the PMLQ minus Pervez Elahi and Moonis Elahi may become the proverbial King’s Party but the indications suggest it is Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan’s Istehekam Pakistan Party (IPP) which is seen as favourite these days and the PMLQ has made no mark.

For the last two weeks, Sarwar has been reaching out directly and indirectly to PTI leaders from his Scottish base and discussing ways to return to the party, two trusted sources said.

A senior PTI leader said Sarwar had reached out to the party leaders offering to re-join but the party has shown no response so far. “The only person who can allow re-entry of Chaudhary Sarwar is Imran Khan but he has made it clear he will not forgive and forget those dozens of leaders who let him down in difficult times. Those who lobbied against Imran Khan and the PTI are not acceptable.”

Chaudhary Sarwar wants to join the PTI again because his family members want to run for elections on PTI tickets in Faisalabad as there are no seats vacant in PMLN ranks and no other option, said a source close to Sarwar. The source also said that Sarwar’s son Anas, the Scottish Labour leader, also has an election coming up in Glasgow and there is a considerable Pakistani vote in the local constituency.

When asked about efforts to re-join the PTI, Sarwar didn’t deny. He said: “All options are on the table. Discussions at various levels are ongoing. I have not made a final decision yet. I will make the final decision soon.”

Another source said that so far the PTI had not shown any interest in the offer and it had no time to even consider it given the circumstances the PTI was facing in Pakistan.

In March this year, Sarwar had joined the PMLQ in the presence of its president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

In December 2021, Sarwar had slammed Imran Khan’s government by saying that the PTI government had handed over everything to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Speaking at an event in London, he said the PTI had mortgaged everything to get a loan of $6 billion, adding that he did not want to become a governor but accepted the party’s decision. Sarwar had joined the PTI in 2015 after criticising Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif, days after resigning as the Punjab governor. However, he was appointed to the post for a second time once the PTI came to power in 2018. Sarwar’s allies had said he was not happy as the Punjab governor and didn’t like Usman Buzdar. He was sacked from the post around the no-confidence vote by the PTI government, with Omer Sarfraz Cheema being appointed as his replacement.