'System can't work if authority is with army chief, responsibility with PM'

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan believes that a country's system fails if its elected government doesn't have both responsibility and authority, a local media outlet reported.

The former Pakistani Prime Minister - who was ousted via a no-confidence motion last year - expressed these views in an interview with the US broadcaster, Voice of America, stressing that the elected governments must have authority as well as responsibility, The News reported.

"The leading principle of the balance (of power) is that the elected government that has the responsibility, which people have mandated through their vote, must also have the authority," Khan said.

He said that responsibility and authority cannot be separated and hence a system cannot work if the two things are not vested in the same individual.

"If the authority lies with the army chief, (but) responsibility lies with the Prime Minister, no management system works," Khan added, the media outlet reported.

While responding to a question regarding his relationship with the military as the premier, the PTI chief said that all the policies of the military in Pakistan depend on one individual.

"Military (in Pakistan) means one man, the army chief. So, the whole policy of military vis-a-vis their dealing with the civilian government depends on the personality of one man," he said.

Khan said that the positive side of his relationship with the then-army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa was his government having the "organised strength of Pakistan army to help us".

--IANS

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