PM Khan stop victim-blaming, says Pakistani Twitterati

Prime minister Imran Khan (IK) in a recent interview with “Axios on HBO” with Jonathan Swan (JS), talked about his views on “rape” and “temptation”.

The primer’s words have hurt the sentiments of many in the country.

Here is a transcript of the part of his interview that concerns rape and his views on “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on men, unless they are robots.”

JS: You were asked about the epidemic of sexual violence and rape in Pakistan and you acknowledged the seriousness of the problem and you spoke about Pakistan’s strict laws. You were also quoted as saying that the practice of women wearing veils “is to stop temptation not every man has willpower”. You said on increasing vulgarity, will have consequences, and you were accused of rape victim-blaming. How do you respond to that?

IK: It is such nonsense. I never said veils, this was never said. I said the concept of purdah and the concept of purdah is to avoid temptation in society. We don’t have discos here, we don’t have nightclubs, so it is a completely different society, way of life here, so if you raise temptation in society to the point and all these young guys have nowhere to go, it has consequences in the society.

JS: Do you think what women wear has any effect? That this is part of that temptation?

IK: If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men unless they’re robots. I mean it’s common sense.

JS: But will it really provoke acts of sexual violence?

IK: It depends on which society you live in. If in a society where people haven’t seen that sort of thing, it will have an impact on them. If you grow up in a society like you, maybe it won’t on you. This cultural imperialism, whatever is in our culture, must be acceptable to everyone else, it’s not.

JS: Forgive me, when you were a cricket star, you were seen as a playboy, there were photos of you with your shirts off in your bedroom.

IK: This is not about me.

JS: You’re the messenger.

IK: It’s about my society. My priority is how my society behaves, what reactions are caused in my society. So when I see sex crimes going through the roof, we sit down and discuss how are we going to tackle this. It is having an impact on my society.

However, the premier’s comments caused an uproar on social media, prompting Pakistanis to call him out for his insensitive remarks.

This isn’t the first time PM Imran was heard expressing his views on rape.

Journalist Shahmir Sanni didn’t see the PM’s justification as legit. “Nearly every woman that has been raped in Pakistan has worn what he would prescribe as modest clothing,” he wrote.

Mosharraf Zaidi spelled it out for everyone.

So, what is the country saying about the PM? That perhaps he doesn’t understand what cultural imperialism is.

Or he [PM Khan] doesn’t realise that out of control men are the problem.

He’s [Imran Khan] a rape apologist who hates women.

Disappointed and frankly sickening to see PM Khan repeat his victim blaming regarding reasons for sexual violence in Pakistan.

People say we’re paying the price for his own guilt.

Why aren’t men offended?

The loud and persistent outcry from many people came out on Twitter yet again. Some shared their own personal experiences to make it more clear that why rape happens and why it is never okay to blame the victim.

As #RapeApologistSelectedPM trends on Twitter, the question remains, “Is our Prime Minister listening to the public’s grief? When will he stop with the victim-blaming and giving rapists a free pass? When?”