Pakistan’s rights activists have accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of ‘staggering ignorance’ after the former cricketer linked to how women dress for an increase in rape cases. In a weekend interview on live television, Khan, who was trained in Oxford, said that an increase in rapes indicates the “consequences in any society where vulgarity increases.”
BK Bangash / AP
“Incidents of rape of women … have increased very rapidly in society,” he said.
He advised women to cover up to avoid temptation.
“This whole concept of purdah is to avoid temptation, not everyone has the willpower to avoid it,” he said, using a term that could refer to modest dress or gender segregation.
Hundreds signed a statement online on Wednesday calling Khan’s comments “factually incorrect, insensitive and dangerous”.
“Fault rests solely with the rapist and the system that enables the rapist, including a culture made by statements made by (Khan),” the statement said.
Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission, an independent watchdog for rights, said on Tuesday it was ‘terrified’ by the comments.
“It not only betrays a staggering ignorance about where, why and how rape occurs, but it also places the blame on survivors of rape, which, as the government should know, can range from young children to victims of honor crimes, he said. .
The Karachi Chapter of the Women’s Action Forum asked Khan to apologize for his “callous and hurtful remarks.”
Pakistan is a deeply conservative country where victims of sexual abuse are often viewed with suspicion and criminal charges are rarely seriously investigated.
A large part of the country lives under an ‘honor’ code where women who bring shame on the family can be subjected to violence or murder.
It regularly ranks among the worst places in the world for gender equality.
Nationwide protests erupted last year when a police chief reprimanded a victim of gang rape for driving at night without a male companion. The French-Pakistani mother was assaulted in front of her children on the side of a highway after her car ran out of fuel.
After that incident, Khan demanded that rapists be hanged or castrated in public for their crimes.
Last year, Khan was also criticized after another television appearance in which he did not dispute the Muslim cleric’s insistence that coronavirus was released due to the wrongdoing of women.
The latest dispute comes as the organizers behind the International Women’s Day march are waging a coordinated disinformation campaign against them, including doctored images and videos being circulated online.
This has led to allegations of libel – an extremely sensitive case in Pakistan where allegations earlier led to crowds attacking people.
The organizers of the annual rally called on the prime minister to intervene.
In his weekend TV appearance, Khan also blamed the divorce figures in Britain for the ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ culture that began in the 1970s, when the two divorced Khan gained a reputation in London as a playboy.