It’s evident that Prime Minister Imran Khan has still not understood what are the reasons behind sex crimes, Imaan Mazari, a human rights activist, said.
In an interview with SAMAA TV programme Sawaal on Sunday, she said that the premier thinks rape is a lust crime.
“Rape is actually a power crime,” the activist pointed out.
She was referring to the PM’s recent comments on rape in an interview with HBO’s Axios. “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on men unless they are robots,” he said.
“The concept of purdah is [to] avoid temptation in the society,” the prime minister said while referring to his earlier statement. Pakistan doesn’t have discos or nightclubs and it is a completely different society, he added.
Mazari pointed out that PM Khan should read the judgements of rape cases passed by the Supreme Court which clearly state that the crime has nothing to do with the clothes, personality, character, and even sex life of a woman.
“When he talks about punishments for rapists, he brings up chemical castration which is NOT the solution because it doesn’t deter rape.”
Read: Imran Khan and chemical castration: the Pakistan rape punishment debate
We need to understand that the certainty of punishment is more important than the severity of punishment.
The activist said that the “men are not robots” comment projects Pakistani men as animals in the international community which is an insult for all the men in the country.
PM’s comment “blown out of proportion”
Religious scholar Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer said that the PM’s comments on women’s clothes are not entirely wrong. “They are not the sole factor that causes rape but is one of the reasons.”
I believe the premier has put forward his observation but whatever he said was not wrong, he pointed out.
Islam believes that women should wear hijab and do purdah. “Whether you practise it or not, you have to accept that these orders are there and there’s no denying that,” the scholar said.
On the other hand, PTI women Kanwal Shauzeb and Dr Naushaba claimed that the prime minister’s comments were being “blown out of proportion”.
The premier’s entire interview was not run on the channel, PTI MNA Kanwal Shuazab said. “The media today objectifies women sexually from selling juices to water bottles.”
The entire debate between the PM and HBO’s Jonathan Swan was not about rape apologists or victim-blaming but about the factors that lead to rape.
Shauzab added that like everyone else, the prime minister has a right to freedom of expression and he’s not someone who just says but his actions speak louder than words.
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