Pakistan Muslim League (Zia), informally referred to as the Zia League, is an Islamist

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

political party in Pakistan. Named after

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also se ...

, the sixth

president of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

, the party is headquartered in Bahawalnagar. The party was founded in 2002 by Zia's son

Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq (; born 20 February 1952) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (Z). A son of military dictator Gen Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, he served as Minister for Religious Affairs and Minorities i ...

. With the 2002 general elections, Ijaz won his

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

seat and merged with the

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

-endorsed

Pakistan Muslim League (Q) The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League" (officially registered as the Pakistan Muslim League) is a political party in Pakistan. As of the 2024 parliamentary e ...

. It gained the federal religious affairs ministry under Haq. After PML-Q was routed following the general elections of 2008, PML-Z separated from the larger party in February 2010. In March 2010, PML-Zia successfully contested by-elections held in Bahawalnagar for Member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly, upsetting the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

. During the

2010 Pakistan floods The floods in Pakistan began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab (Pakistani province), Punjab and, Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan regions of Pakistan, which affected the Indus Riv ...

, the party also came to national attention for distributing relief goods worth millions of rupees in Southern Punjab. On 9 October 2011, PML-Zia became the only party to support the PML-N's threat to dissolve the Punjab Assembly and pre-empt the PPP's expected victory in the 2012

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

elections. In the general elections in 2013, PML-Z contested two seats and won again from NA-191 Bahawalnagar in the National Assembly, and two seats in the Punjab Assembly. Haq's constituency NA-191 recorded the highest

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

in the country for 2013. On 19 March 2023, party leader Ijaz-ul-Haq along with his party members, joined PTI after meeting with

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

. The PML(Z) was also merged into PTI. It was later on 29 May, that he denied the rumours of PML-Z getting merged into PTI.

Electoral history

National Assembly elections

Notes

References

{{Pakistani political parties Islamic political parties in Pakistan Muslim League breakaway groups Nationalist parties in Pakistan P Political parties established in 2002 2002 establishments in Pakistan Far-right political parties in Pakistan Pakistani nationalism