LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday suspended the party membership of former provincial minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed for his controversial remarks about the settling of party`s matters with the establishment.

Announcing this, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a statement that Mr Sharif had also constituted a threemember committee comprising Raja Zafarul Haq, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Rana Tanvir to investigate the matter.

The committee would complete its probe in two weeks, she said. `Any further action against MrMashhood will be taken in the light of the investigation.

During a recent TV interview, Rana Mashhood had claimed that Mr Sharif had played a major role in improving the PML-N`s relations with the establishment.

`They [people in the establishment] have started realising [their mistake] that whom they considered horses [have] turned out to be mules,` he said in a veiled reference to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders.

The PML-N MPA also said that his party might form government in Punjab in two months.

As Mr Mashhood`s remarks stirred a controversy, the PML-N disowned it declaring it his personal opinion. The Inter-Services Public Relations, the Pakistan Army`s media wing, also strongly reacted to Rana Mashhood`s remarks, terming them `baseless and regrettable`.

Talking to reporters outside the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday, Rana Mashhood said: `Werespect all institutions. My stance is very much clear that we (the PML-N) have never came to power through back door.Iregret that my interview has been twisted. I did not talk about `a deal`. Nor we will go for it. However it is true that the one who was considered a horse turned out to be a mule.

He said that he believed in democracy and had never commented on the army.

`Pakistani army is ours and we should not debate on it.

On the other hand, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said that Mr Mashhood`s statement was a `failed effort to keep the PML-N alive`.

`His statement has no basis,` he added.

Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hasan Chohan said Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif were behind the statement of Mr Mashhood and that the statement was part of an effort to influence the byelections for 11 seats of the Punjab Assembly.