NEW YORK: Despite being among one of the world’s worst performers when it comes to democracy, and registering a high number of human rights violation cases, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif defended the country’s ‘hybrid model’ of governance where the army and civilian leadership work hand in glove in running the country.He made the remarks in an interview to British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan while defending Pakistan. Asif called the US democracy a “deep state” and tried to brush away the charges of military might in Pak governance.When asked by Hasan, “It’s a strange system you have in Pakistan. I think you’ve called it a hybrid model – where the military and civilian leaders effectively share power. But the military leaders are really the ones in charge, are they not? In most countries, the head of the army answers to the defence minister. In your country you, the defence minister, answer to the head of the army, don’t you? Asim Munir is a more powerful person than you are.” Khawaja Asif rejected the statements. and said: “No, it’s not like that… I’m a political appointee.”When confronted with the example of how in the US, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of war, has the power to fire American generals, but the same cannot be said for Pakistan, Asif sourly retorted, saying, “They (US) have a different model over here. It’s called deep state.”On Hasan further saying, “In your country (Pakistan) the deep state’s in charge. That’s what the accusation is”, Asif put the blame on past leadership, stating, “You can say that because of our military rulers – it is more visible…”On being further probed as to where the power lies in Pakistan, the defence minister explained it as “hybrid”.Earlier this year, Asif had told Arab News about the ‘hybrid regime’ that currently runs the country, Dawn reported. The term, Dawn said, is used to describe the informal power-sharing arrangement, whereby the military holds a significant influence on the civilian leadership. ani