The Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) has decided that its leaders Awn Chaudhry and Nauman Ahmad Langrial will continue to serve in the federal cabinet, a party spokesperson said on Saturday.

Party spokesperson Firdous Ashiq Awan said in a tweet that it has been decided under the leadership of party chairman Jahangir Tareen that both the leaders will “remain a part of the federal cabinet till the end of the government’s tenure […] to get the country out of difficulties and to keep it united and stable”.

Chaudhry and Langrial have been serving as adviser to the prime minister on sports and tourism and as special assistant to the prime minister, respectively.

She recalled IPP President Aleem Khan’s previous directions to both cabinet members to resign from their positions as the “IPP has no affiliation with the PDM government”.

Noting that although Chaudhry and Langrial had tendered their resignations to the IPP chairman, Awan said it was decided through mutual consultations that they both would not do so considering the recently-secured pact with the International Monetary Fund and the country’s economic and political situation.

Awan said the two IPP leaders will remain a part of the federal cabinet and contribute to Pakistan’s development to “save the country from instability”.

Chaudhry had been appointed as an adviser to the PM in April last year, when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s 37-member cabinet took oath after ousting the previous PTI government.

As of February, the total strength of the federal cabinet stood at 85.

IPP’s launch

The IPP — which is the new home of several PTI deserters, including Awn and Langrial — was formally launched last month against the backdrop of a crackdown on former premier Imran Khan’s party over May 9 protests.

Protests had erupted across the country on May 9 following Imran’s arrest by the National Accountability Bureau with the help of the paramilitary Rangers in the Al Qadir Trust case at the Islamabad High Court premises.

While the protests were afoot during his detention, public and private properties, including military installations were vandalised.

Since then, several PTI leaders have been arrested and re-arrested amid a crackdown on the party on allegations of planning, perpetrating and committing vandalism.

Many among them announced parting ways with the party soon after their release and have joined hands with IPP patron-in-chief Jahangir Khan Tareen, who used to be a close of Imran before leading a group of defectors in the PTI.

At the IPP’s formal launch in Lahore last month, seen alongside Tareen at the event were several former PTI leaders, including former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, former PTI financer Aleem Khan, former Azad Kashmir prime minister Tanvir Ilays, former ministers Amir Kiani, Fawad Chaudhry, Ali Zaidi, and Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, Firdous Ashiq Awan, Saeed Akbar Nawani and Nauman Langrial.