A key Pakistan Mulsim League Nawaz (PMLN) leader in central Punjab has joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in a major setback to Nawaz Sharif’s party.

Pir Aminul Hasnat, with considerable clout in the Sargodha region, addressed a joint press conference with PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Fawad Chaudhry and announced that he was joining Imran Khan’s party.

Qureshi, Umar and Chaudhry welcomed Hasnat into the party and thanked him.

His decision will strengthen the PTI, said Asad Umar.

Fawad Chaudhry said that PMLN had already been eliminated from politics, and Hasnat’s decision would destroy whatsoever hope was left for the party.

Aminul Hasnat said that his family had close ties with Qureshi, always looking up to him as ‘the head of our family.’

He said Fawad Chaudhry also played a key role in his decision to join the PTI.