Not once but twice a year, PM Imran Khan articulated deeply problematic views about rape.
For the first time, he blamed the rise in vulgarity the cause of rise in rape cases. The other time, he made it worse by saying that men are not robots and they are obvious to be attracted towards women.
However, this time he made it right and clarified his stance on the issue. The PM appeared on PBS newshour in an interview with Judy Woodruff and said that he would never say such a “stupid thing”. He also explained that his comments were taken out of context
Imran Khan’s most recent comments came in reply to a question by journalist Judy Woodruff who asked him about these earlier views and if he believes women bear a large part of the responsibility for the rise in the number of rape cases in Pakistan.
“My comments were completely taken out of context. They were simply talking about Pakistan society, where we are having a rise, a sharp rise in sex crimes. And sex crime does not include just women. More than rape is child abuse, which is going through the roof.
“So, my comments were in that context. And it was — I used the word purdah. In Islam, purdah does not mean just clothes. And purdah is not restricted to women only, but that is for men as well. It means bringing the temptation down in a society.”
He went on to say that his remarks were taken out of context deliberately. “Never would I say such a stupid thing where a person who’s raped is responsible for somehow — it’s always the rapist that is responsible.”
He further said that the person who commits rape is fully responsible and the victim is never responsible while categorically stating his thoughts on sexual crimes.
