Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s comment in a recent interaction on how women must dress up for men to resist ‘temptation’ drew criticism from various quarters but one of the sharpest comments was from his British ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith.
“Say to the believing men that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts.” Quran 24:31. The onus is on men,” Goldsmith tweeted. In anothet tweet she wrote, “I’m hoping this is a misquote/ mistranslation. The Imran I knew used to say, ‘Put a veil on the man’s eyes not on the woman.'”
Jemima Goldsmith was married to cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan between 1995-2004 and they have two sons.
The 68-year-old Pakistan PM, who studied in Oxford and lived in England for long time while playing county cricket, had said in a recent interaction, “Aaj jis maashray mein aap fahashi barhatay jayen, toh koi tou us ka asar hoga na.” (In any society where vulgarity is prevalent, there are bound to be consequences), reports tribune.com.pk.
Khan added, “Humare deen mein kyun mana kiya gaya hai? Ye sara jo parday ka concept hai, yeh kya hai? Ke temptation na ho maashray mein. Har insaan mein will power nahi hota. (The reason why our religion stresses on covering up your body and maintaining modesty is to avoid any such temptation. Not everyone has the willpower to avoid it).”
This triggered a slew of responses from Twitter with users criticising him for not talking about ‘law and order’ and instead blaming women for the ‘way they dress’. “Shock & outrage as Imran Khan links ‘vulgarity’ with rise in rape & sexual violence. Prime Minister seems to blame women & how they dress instead of violent male behaviour who he said “cannot keep their willpower in check”, No word on law enforcement…”, wrote a user.