With the 2002 general elections, Ijaz won his National Assembly seat and merged with the Pervez Musharraf-endorsed Pakistan Muslim League (Q).

After PML-Q was routed following the general elections of 2008, PML-Z separated from the larger party in February 2010.

[citation needed] In March 2010, PML-Zia successfully contested by-elections held in Bahawalnagar for Member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly, upsetting the Pakistan Peoples Party.

[3] During the 2010 Pakistan floods, the party also came to national attention for distributing relief goods worth millions of rupees in Southern Punjab.

[4][2] 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 elections.