PTI leader and former Punjab governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar announced on Sunday that he would be joining the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).

Sarwar, who was sacked as the Punjab governor last year in April by the PTI government, announced his decision to join the PML-Q at a press conference in Lahore alongside party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

Addressing the press conference, Sarwar said that he had made the decision after many consultations. He said that he was informed that Shujaat was an “honest and trustworthy person” who had always spoken about uniting the people of the country.

“Political differences have turned into an enmity and despite the difficult situation, politicians are not ready to sit together,” he remarked. “I invite all the stakeholders to unite and initiate the process of the country’s development.”

He said that the people would decide who would govern the country. “But we should sit down together in these difficult times”.

He further said that the country would only be able to progress once its institutions were strengthened and were allowed to work according to their abilities.

Addressing the country’s youth, Sarwar said that they should understand the power of their vote. “If they are not happy with the performance of one government, changing the government is in their hands,” he said, adding that it would ultimately harm the country if they allowed themselves to become a particular party’s “tool”.

He said that it was the judiciary’s responsibility to dispense justice yet cases pending for the last 10 years had not yet been decided. “First dispense justice to the people,” he said. “But you want to fix the entire country”.

Sarwar said the country’s biggest problem was that one institution wanted to fix another without first fixing itself. “Everyone should fix their own institution and work within their bounds”.

Taking to Twitter later in the day, Sarwar reiterated his decision to join the PML-Q. Sarwar said he had joined the PML-Q along with his partners, thanking Shujaat and Tariq Bashir Cheema for the warm welcome.

“I have become a part of the muslim league to work for the country,” he said. “Will make PML-Q a party that rises up to the nation’s hopes”.

Sarwar had joined the PTI in 2015, days after resigning as the Punjab governor. However, he was appointed to the post for a second time once the PTI came into power in 2018.

Last year, Sarwar was sacked from the post by the PTI government, with Omer Sarfraz Cheema being appointed as his replacement.

The announcement had come hours before a crucial session of the National Assembly on the no-confidence motion against ex-premier Imran Khan as well as a sitting of the Punjab Assembly to elect a new leader of the house following the chief minister’s resignation.

At the time, Sarwar had alleged that he was being punished for opposing the “illegal and unconstitutional” orders given to him by the prime minister to pave the way for the election of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi — who has since migrated from the PML-Q to the PTI — as the chief minister.

He had also berated Imran for failing the PTI’s struggle to create a ‘Naya Pakistan’ and lamented that he could only find Usman Buzdar to steer the largest province towards ‘Naya Pakistan’.