Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday defended the country’s controversial “hybrid model” of governance, where military and civilian leaderships work in close coordination. This comes at a time when Pakistan’s poor track record on democracy and persistent human rights concerns is known to everyone. In an interview with British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan, Asif dismissed criticism of military influence in Pakistani politics, instead turning the focus on the United States by labelling its democracy a product of the “deep state.”

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

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