Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has drawn flak once again by blaming women’s clothing for a rise in the cases of sexual violence in the country. During an interview with Axios’ journalist Jonathan Swan on HBO, which aired on June 20, PM Khan said, “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots. It’s just common sense. This is cultural imperialism. Whatever is acceptable in our culture, must be acceptable everywhere else. It’s not.” PM Khan’s comment comes just two months after his interview with Geo News, where he had made similar comments stating that sexual violence was a product of ‘obscenity,’ which he described as a Western import.
Earlier in April, PMEarlier in April, PM Imran Khan had said that the rise in sexual violence in Pakistan, particularly against children, was caused due to “fahashi” (vulgarity). Khan had said that the rise in sexual violence in Pakistan, particularly against children, was caused due to “fahashi” (vulgarity). And this time, trying to defending his earlier remarks, Khan in his interview with Axios’ on HBO said, “…I said the concept of ‘purdah’. Avoid temptation in society. We don’t have discos here, we don’t have nightclubs. It is a completely different society way of life here. So if you raise temptation in society to a point — all these young guys have nowhere to go — it has a consequence in the society.”
Answering a question if the woman’s clothes can provoke sexual violence, Khan said, “If a woman is wearing very few clothes it will have an impact on the men unless they are robots. It’s common sense.” When further prodded, he added, “It depends which society you live in. If in a society people have not seen that sort of thing, it will have an impact on them.”
Calling Imran Khan a “sick, misogynistic, degenerate”, Pakistan Muslim League (PML) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb came down heavily on the Pakistan Prime Minister. “The world got an insight into a mindset of a sick, misogynistic, degenerate & derelict IK. It is not women’s choices that lead to sexual assault rather the choices of men who choose to engage in this dispicable and vile crime,” Aurangzeb tweeted.
“Maybe the misogynist, degenerate can defend Paedophiles and murderers, as he advocates for rapist, after all, men cannot be expected to control temptation. Just FYI Mr degenerate, self-control is a little thing upon which Allah places a great premium,” she added.
Official statistics in Pakistan have revealed that at least 11 rape incidents are reported in the country every day, with over 22,000 cases reported to the police in the last six years. However, only 77 of the accused have been convicted which comprises 0.3 per cent of the total figure, reported Geo News.
(ANI inputs added)