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Is Imran Khan justifying sexual violence? 'woman wearing few clothes will have impact on men,’ he said

Khan said his govt will “absolutely not” allow the CIA to set up bases in Pak

imran-khan-pakistan-ap File photo of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan | AP

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again blamed women for increasing instances of sexual violence in Pakistan. 

"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," Imran Khan said in an interview with 'Axios on HBO'. "This is cultural imperialism. Whatever is acceptable in our culture, must be acceptable everywhere else. It's not," he added. The interview was aired on June 20. 

Defending his remarks, Khan said, “We don’t have discotheques, we don’t have nightclubs, so it's a different way of life here. If you raise temptation in the society to a point and all these young guys have nowhere to go, it has consequences in the society.”

Reema Omer, Legal Advisor, South Asia, International Commission of Jurists tweeted, “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!”

Khan, in April, made a similar comment about an increase in instances of rapes in Pakistan. Khan, in a Geo News, said, "World history tells when you increase fahashi (vulgarity) in society, two things happen: sex crimes increase and the family system breaks down." Back then too, Khan had received flak for the comment.

According to data from the Police, Law, and Justice Commission of Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Women's Foundation, and provincial welfare agencies, at least 11 rape cases reported in Pakistan every day. As of 2020, over 22,000 rape cases reported to police across the country in the last six years, but, only 77 accused have been convicted. 

During the interview with Axios HBO, Khan spoke on several other issues concerning Pakistan. He said that his government will “absolutely not” allow the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)  to set up bases in Pakistan for cross-border counterterrorism missions. Khan, during the interview also said, why was the world obsessed with Xinjiang, while ignoring what is going in Kashmir.

Khan said, "I care about what is happening on our border." To this, interviewer Jonathan Swan pointed out that China was also on Pakistan's border.

Prominent Pakistan journalist Mehdi Hassan wrote on Twitter, “This is painful to watch. In which Imran Khan pretends the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang aren’t being prosecuted because his friends in the Chinese government told him they weren’t Good for @jonathanvswan for pushing back.”

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