ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan who was twice in the recent past accused of victim-blaming following his comments on the high incidence of sexual abuse Wednesday clarified his statements were “deliberately” taken out of context, saying “never is the victim responsible” in such instances.
Imran, on two separate occasions, gave statements that appeared to be blaming the dress choices of women for a rise in rape cases. In a first comment in April, he, during an interview, suggested the increase in rapes indicated the “consequences in any society where vulgarity is on the rise”, advising women to cover up to prevent temptation.
Later in June, in an interview with Jonathan Swan for Axios, the prime minister was asked about his previous remarks about rape victims to which he responded by clarifying he was referring to Islam’s “concept of purdah” which is to “avoid the temptation of society” and is done through covering oneself.
But he also said: “If a woman is wearing very few clothes it will have an impact on the man unless they are robots. It’s common sense.” Imran did not elaborate on what he meant by “few clothes”.
This time, in an interview with PBS NewsHour which aired early Wednesday morning, host Judy Woodruff harked back to the prime minister’s early comments, wondering if he “believe women bear a large part of the responsibility” in rape instances.
“Anyone who commits rape, solely and solely that person is responsible,” he responded.
“So let’s be clear about that. No matter how provocative the woman is or whatever she wears, the person who commits rape he is fully responsible. Never is the victim responsible.
“My comments were completely taken out of context. They were simply talking about Pakistan society where we are having a sharp rise in sex crimes,” explained Imran.
He observed that sex crimes did not include only women. “More than rape, there is child abuse [cases] which are going through the roof, so my comments were in that context,” said he.
He stated that he used the word pardah, adding the word did not just mean clothes or was restricted to women only. He said pardah was also for men and meant to “bring down temptation in a society”.
“And I have to say because I know all the interviews I have given. Never would I say such a stupid thing where a person who is raped is somehow responsible. It is always the rapist that is responsible,” said Imran.
Woodruff questioned if the importance given to Islam in Pakistan stopped the prime minister from adopting a stronger stance against women. “Absolutely not. Islam gives dignity (and) respect to women,” he replied.
Imran added that “having travelled” the world over, he discovered that in Muslim countries, women were treated with far greater respect. “In Pakistan […] even in other Muslim countries I have seen, women [are] treated with far more respect and given more dignity.”
When talking about respect extended to women, the premier admitted there were “odd cases” of abuse but explained that such a scenario happened “everywhere in the world”.
“But you look at the situation in Pakistan even now, I mean look at the rape cases here, compared to Western countries, they are minuscule.”
Imran admitted there were issues in Pakistan but he linked them to “cultural problems”. He said such cultural problems existed in every nation and were resolved with cultural evolution.
“As far as a women’s dignity and respect goes, I can say after going all over the world, this [Pakistani] society gives more respect and dignity to women,” he added.
