Ismail was one of the founding members of PTI in 1996. From its inception, Ismail played an instrumental role in building the party's organizational structure, particularly in Sindh, and worked closely with the leadership to promote PTI's reformist and anti-corruption agenda. He received 24,821 votes and lost the seat to
Kunwar Naveed Jamil. He was elected to the
Provincial Assembly of Sindh as candidate of PTI from Constitutuency
PS-111 (Karachi-XXIII) in the
2018 Pakistani general election. On 11 August 2018, he was formally nominated by PTI for the same office. On 13 August 2018, he took oath as member of the Sindh Assembly. The same day, he reaffirmed the PTI's commitment to demolish the security walls around Karachi's Bilawal House. On 23 August 2018, he was appointed as Governor of Sindh. His appointment as Governor drew criticism from academic experts who claimed Ismail, for being intermediate pass only, does not have the necessary academic qualifications for the office by arguing that Governor office makes him the chancellor of all state-run educational institution. On 27 August 2018, he resigned from his Sindh Assembly seat and took oath as Governor of Sindh. On 18 April 2022, Ismail resigned as Governor of Sindh. In 2022, Ismail was injured during the
attempted assassination of Imran Khan. In 2023, in the aftermath of the
9 May riots which saw violent attacks on military installations and state-owned property following Imran Khan's arrest, Ismail resigned from all positions within PTI and announced his departure from the party during a press conference on 27 May 2023, condemning the violence and stating that the perpetrators "should be punished,” emphasizing that he had no involvement in the unrest. == Other work ==