Pak defence minister Khawaja Asif praises 'hybrid mode,' claims doing wonders to economy
Lahore, Jun 21 (PTI): Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and a close aide of ruling PML-N president and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said the country is being governed under a “hybrid model” in which the military enjoys the major power share.
This is the second time this week that Asif, a prominent member of the incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif cabinet, admitted to the hybrid model, criticised as not mixed but a “fixed government to serve subsidiary interests” by analysts.
The defence minister's candid words during an interview with Arab News aired on Friday evening are being considered as an admission that Sharifs' Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has the blessings of the powerful military establishment in Pakistan.
Asif described the civil-military hybrid system as co-ownership of the power structure as he said: “This is a hybrid model. It’s not an ideal democratic government. So, this hybrid arrangement, I think it is doing wonders. This system is a practical necessity until Pakistan is out of the woods as far as economic and governance problems are concerned.”
He added if this sort of hybrid model was adopted way back in the 90s (when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister, twice), things would have been much, much better because the confrontation between military establishment and the political government would retard the progress of democracy.
The defence minister claimed that “the only realistic option” for the PML-N and the Sharifs is “to compromise with the military.”
Earlier, a day after Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir met US President Donald Trump at the White House, Asif on Thursday said in a post on X described the meeting as “the most important turning point in the 78-year history of relations,” and added that the development is the success of the “current hybrid model of governance”, involving the elected government and the army.
Sharifs' arch rival and former prime minister Imran Khan has maintained since last year that the February 8 general elections witnessed the ‘Mother of All Rigging’ that deprived his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), from forming the government. Khan also called the PML-N and its ruling partner, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as “mandate thieves.”
After Asif's open admission, the critics claimed that it has further buried the PML-N's earlier slogan of “vote ko izzat do (give respect to the ballot),” setting a future course of politics for the Sharifs that they would continue their politics as subservient to the powerful military.
“This (Trump-Munir) meeting has lifted the thin, see-through veneer of ‘elected’. What the world has known for quite a while is now in the open... where is the centre of power in Pakistan and who is in control of real state powers? The political allies (military) in power have presented themselves as the ‘government’ now.
“Khawaja Asif and others now have to seek some legitimacy to praise the merits of the hybrid model, which actually doesn’t mean a mixed but a fixed government to serve subsidiary interests,” said senior analyst Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais.
He said the current setup is, in fact, the third “hybrid regime” since the ouster of Imran Khan in 2022.
“Today the difference is that while Gen Ziaul Haq and Gen Pervez Musharraf created political fronts by cannibalising major parties, this time around the two major parties -- PMLN and PPP -- have willingly served as political facade,” he said referring to the past two army generals who later became presidents.
Dr Rais said by handing victory to the PML-N and PPP in the previous elections, the military establishment has “reduced these parties to the status of an appendage in the hybrid order.”
He said the political capital of the PML-N and PPP is buried alongside their anti-establishment narrative. “Now, the priority of the Sharifs and Zardaris as well as the military establishment is to neutralise the third force — Imran Khan's PTI --- which is perceived as a danger for all of them,” he said.
Senior journalist Matiullah Jan said on X, “What a fall from grace for a politician. This defence minister takes oath to defend the constitution which makes no mention of the so-called hybrid form of government.”
“The fact is that this system is not even a hybrid system but a pure and simple dictatorship with political pygmies at the heels of affairs,” he added.
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Delhi HC asks Jaideep Sengar to surrender in Unnao custodial death case
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Friday asked Jaideep Sengar, brother of Unnao rape case convict Kuldeep Sengar, to surrender before jail authorities in connection with his conviction in the custodial death case of the survivor's father.
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja was hearing a plea by the convict for further extension of interim bail upon suspension of the 10-year sentence.
It observed that the interim bail granted to Jaideep Sengar in July 2024 was last extended in April 2025 and since then, in spite of five dates, no order of any further extension or suspension of his sentence has been passed by the court.
As the senior counsel for Jaideep Sengar urged the bench to extend the period of his release on account of his health, the bench said, "You surrender and then we will see."
"Although there is no extension of interim suspension of sentence granted, we find he has still not surrendered. Before we proceed to consider his application for further extension of suspension of sentence, we require the appellant to first surrender," the bench ordered.
The senior counsel for Jaideep Sengar assured the court that he would surrender by Saturday.
The court listed the matter for hearing next week.
Jaideep Sengar, 50, sought the bail extension on the grounds that he is suffering from oral cancer.
The Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) counsel had earlier said it was not a fit case for extension of interim bail, and the prescription given by Jaideep Sengar in support of his plea was fabricated.
In his application, Jaideep Sengar said he was suffering from stage IV oral cancer, a life-threatening condition, and had developed clinical signs of recurrence.
The condition, the plea said, required continuous and specialised medical care.
The plea also informed that Jaideep Sengar has spent about four years in custody.
The high court had granted interim bail to Jaideep Sengar on July 3, 2024, for two months on medical grounds.
Kuldeep Sengar was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life on December 20, 2019, for raping the minor in 2017.
On March 13, 2020, Kuldeep Sengar, along with Jaideep Sengar, was sentenced to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment by the trial court, which also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh, in the custodial death case of the rape survivor's father.
The survivor's father was arrested, allegedly at the behest of the accused, under the Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018, owing to police brutality.
The trial court said no leniency could be shown for killing a family's sole breadwinner.
