Shehbaz has taken notice of Rana Mashhood's statement: Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Ousted premier Nawaz Sharif said, on Wednesday, that president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif has taken a notice of party’s leader Rana Mashhood’s recent controversial statement.

Nawaz was talking to media men outside the accountability court while going towards the courtroom to attend Al-Azizia reference hearing.

In a response to a journalist’s question about Rana Mashhood’s statement, PML-N supreme leader said, “Shehbaz has taken a notice of it already.”

Afterwards, the former prime minister quoted a famous verse by Ghalib, “‘ġhālib’ hameñ na chhed ki phir josh-e-ashk se baithe haiñ ham tahayya-e-tūfāñ kiye hue.”

Nawaz was quick to clarify that he had not referred this verse in the context of Rana Mashhood’s statement, “I was talking about my own state in a general way.”

The accused premier also told the reporters, “I am in another state of mind and you are asking me political questions.”

A day earlier, Mashhood made headlines during a TV interview in which he appeared to suggest that a key institution played a role in Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) victory in the 2018 elections.

During the interview, Mashhood was asked whether the civil-military tensions that had reportedly marred the tenure of the last PML-N government still existed after the end of the party’s rule.

He went on to say that the situation had improved. “I think because ‘they’ have now realised that those whom they had considered horses, are not able to deliver,” he was heard in a video footage as saying.

In another interview later in the day, Mashhood claimed that the PTI government in Punjab would cease to exist within the next two months or so and be replaced by his own party’s setup.

He also denied saying that a “deal” was in the works with the establishment to bring the PML-N back to power in Punjab.