Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has once again defended the country’s “hybrid” model of governance in which the army and civilian leadership run the country by “consensus”.
He said this in an interview with British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan. Asif tried downplaying the role of the much-documented role of the military in Pakistan’s governance, though the country has seen multiple coups, martial law administrators and army chiefs becoming presidents. He, in turn, termed US democracy as one being run by the “deep state”.
Mehdi Hasan, on his platform Zeteo, questioned Khawaja Asif on the power-sharing model in Pakistan, arguing that the army has more authority. “Asim Munir is a more powerful person than you are,” Hasan said in his question.
Khawaja Asif denied this and said. “No, it’s not like that… I’m a political appointee, I’m a political worker, you know.”
In turn, when Hasan cited the example of the US where the Secretary of War (equivalant of defence minister) has the power to fire American generals, but the same cannot be said for Pakistan, Asif replied: “”You can say that because of our military rulers-it is more visible… They (US) have a different model over here. It’s called deep state.”
Asif blamed the previous regimes for the “deep state” being in-charge — apparently echosing what Donald Trump has been saying, though he did not take names.
Further probed as to where the power lies in Pakistan, Asif called the Pakistani system “hybrid”. In previous interviews, Asif has glorified this hybrid model, an informal power-sharing setup, calling it a “practical necessity” and “doing wonders”.
Hasan asked further about the power-sharing: “So, it’s equal? You and (Pak army chief) Asim Munir disagree on something, who gets the last word?”
Asif responded: “It’s not equal… We can agree to disagree. It is by consensus, whatever is taking place…”
Earlier, Asif made headlines for fumbling during his speech at the United Nations Security Council. While speaking at the dialogue on use of Artificial Intelligence in warfare, he repeatedly mentioned Operation Sindoor and the subsequent flareup between India-Pakistan in May this year.
