[10] He left the civil service and joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1990 to begin his political career.

[5] He was appointed as political secretary to then Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and remained spokesperson for PPP to represent the party on foreign tours.

On 25 November, he was given the additional ministerial portfolio of Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development.

[12] He became part of the military government setup following the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état and served as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information from 1999 to 2000.

[10] After his resignation, he began writing columns for an English-language newspaper The News International[13] and used to criticize the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its chief Imran Khan.

[14][15][16] He received 97,933 votes and defeated Khawaja Ahmad Hassan, a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N).

[17] In November 2015, he resigned from the post of PTI organizer in Lahore after the party's poor performance in local government elections held in October 2015.

He has written numerous articles as well government reports, including Devolving the State: A Model for Empowering the People in 2000.