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‘It’s common sense’: Taslima Nasreen takes dig at Imran Khan’s remark on sexual violence
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan defended his recent statement in which the Oxford-educated former cricketer had blamed "obscenity" for the rise in rape cases in the country.
Author Taslima Nasreen on Tuesday took a jibe at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for again linking rape and sexual violence to how women dress. Taking a dig at Khan’s comment, Taslima Nasreen tweeted a shirtless picture of the cricketer-turned-politician. "If a man is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on women, unless they are robots," she tweeted.
During an interview with ‘Axios on HBO’, Khan defended his recent statement in which the Oxford-educated former cricketer had blamed “fahashi” (vulgarity) for the rise in rape cases in the country, advising women to cover up to prevent “temptation”.
“It is a completely different society, way of life here. So if you raise temptation in the society to the point, and all these young guys have nowhere to go, it has consequences in the society," Khan told the interviewer. “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots. I mean it’s common sense,” he added.
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Khan’s remark on women and the ‘purdah’ system again sparked massive outrage on social media and among rights campaigners as they accused Pakistan’s prime minister of promoting misogyny.
In April, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader singled out Bollywood and blamed “obscenity” for the rise in sexual violence cases in the country. During a weekend TV appearance, Khan had said, “[t]his entire concept of purdah (covering up or segregating) is to avoid temptation, not everyone has the willpower to avoid it.”
Jemima Goldsmith, Khan’s first wife, then quoted the Quran to say the “onus is on men.” Reham Khan, who was married to the Pakistan leader for ten months in 2015, wrote, “[t]he less he speaks the better it will be for all.”
