Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, while commenting on the rise in sexual violence in his country, blamed ‘vulgarity’ for such incidents and said that the ‘concept of purdah’ in Islam was meant to stem such ‘temptations’. The comments were followed by sharp reactions on Twitter where people accused him of making ‘insensitive’ remarks. Khan was speaking at a public interaction event over the weekend.

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The 68-year-old cricketer-turned politician, who studied in Oxford and lived in England for long time while playing county cricket, said, “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.

The Pakistan PM 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 critical responses on Twitter with users calling him out for not talking about ‘law and order’ and 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. Another comment on Twitter said, “It’s scary that our PM would have such cringeworthy opinions on such a matter. I really hope he redeems himself.”

In an earlier interview, Khan had said “similar things (sexual violence) are happening in India after the film industry started taking inspiration from Hollywood. Delhi has now become a rape capital.” 

The reference to Delhi came on a question regarding a motorway gangrape incident.The two accused in the case were recently sentenced to death in the case that triggered national outrage. The incident dates back to September 9 2020, when a Pakistan-French woman ran out of fuel on a motorway leading out of Lahore. Her two children were with her. The two accused came across the family, broke into their car, robbed them and raped the woman in front of her children.

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