Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has come under attack after he blamed women’s clothing for the rise in rape and sexual assault in the country. In an interview with ‘Axios on HBO’, 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." He further went on to justify how this “cultural imperialism" works and said, “Whatever is acceptable in our culture, must be accepted everywhere else. It’s not."
A portion of his interview soon went viral, drawing flak over his opinion. It triggered outrage among opposition leaders and scores of netizens, who came down heavily on the Pakistani leader and strongly spoke against such misogynistic ideal.
The video was widely shared with one user, Anaya Khan saying. “Imran Khan is r*pe apologist and hates women."
Imran Khan is r*pe apologist and hates women. pic.twitter.com/lx0SoHTeWU— Anaya Khan (@AnayaNKhan) June 21, 2021
Another user called, Reema Omer took to the micro-blogging platform to share the video and wrote, “Disappointing and frankly sickening to see PM Imran Khan repeat his victim blaming regarding reasons for sexual violence in Pakistan, Men are not “robots”, he says. If they see women in skimpy clothes, they will get “tempted” and some will resort to rape Shameful!"
Further, she added, “Earlier, PTI spokespersons argued the PM never attributed women’s dress to sexual violence but was speaking generally about pardah for both men and women. Here the PM leaves no room for any doubt (or spin). A pity the outcry earlier had no impact on him."
This is the interviewEarlier, PTI spokespersons argued the PM never attributed women’s dress to sexual violence but was speaking generally about pardah for both men and women
Here the PM leaves no room for any doubt (or spin)
A pity the outcry earlier had no impact on him pic.twitter.com/bHCBmFxvyv
— Reema Omer (@reema_omer) June 21, 2021
However, many on Twitter lashed out at the PM for terming men as ‘robots’ and making women bear the responsibilities of sexual crimes instigated against them. Khan was slammed for comparing women’s clothing leads to rape temptation.
“unless they’re robots” IK lost the plot long ago but this is beyond https://t.co/qsoWTJLCi0— سعدیہ شیرازی saadi (@sa3deyya) June 21, 2021
Cultural Imperialism? Really?? What about Talibanisation? That is acceptable?Saddened by Pak PM Imran Khan's views on women. https://t.co/LmLwDKwbP4— RinTinTin (@rinisimonkhanna) June 21, 2021
Disgusting @ImranKhanPTI who wld have known the crap that lies in the brain… https://t.co/oXuQWoGTM3— nabanita sircar (@sircarnabanita) June 21, 2021
No words. Absolutely no words for this man. https://t.co/9p0pS4xQU3— Aman Malik (@PatrakaarPopat) June 21, 2021
Well that’s nice. Glad a world leader thinks me wearing shorts is inviting boys to rape me. https://t.co/tXnFxTgyow— Nicki Patel (@nickipatel) June 21, 2021
This is not the first time PM Imran Khan has triggered debate over his remarks along the line of rape and women’s clothing. Earlier, Khan faced flak from women’s rights activists following his comments on rape and advising women to “cover-up" to avoid it. In another interview, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader stated that rape has indeed been on the rise and that to “avoid temptation", women needed to cover up and adhere to the concept of purdah.
“The incidents of rape of women have actually very rapidly increased in society," Khan said, adding, “This entire concept of purdah is to avoid temptation, not everyone has the willpower to avoid it". He added that this had to manifest itself in some form.
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