Pakistan's Prime Minister Blames Women’s Clothing On Rising Rapes In The Country

Pakistan's Prime Minister has again been caught out blaming his country's rising number of rapes on women's clothes.

In a wide-ranging interview, Imran Khan was asked about what he plans to do to address the horrific statistics related to sexual assault.

Axios journalist Jonathan Swan asked the PM whether clothing had anything to do with them being targeted.

He replied: "If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they're robots. I mean it is common sense."

When quizzed on whether clothing really has an impact on a man's ability to not control himself, Imran Khan double downed.

PA

"It depends on which society you live in. [...] If in a society people haven't seen that sort of thing, it will have an impact [on them]," he said.

"Growing up in a society like yours, maybe it won't impact you. This cultural imperialism...whatever is in our culture must be acceptable to everyone else."

Mr Khan's office has since uploaded unedited footage of the interview to ensure his words weren't taken out of context. He insisted he has tried to be tough on sexual based crimes since he came to power, but he added that as Western influences seep into Pakistan, some men are suddenly overwhelmed by temptation.

That doesn't even come close to justifying rape.

He said 99 per cent of sexual assault cases don't get reported and that contributes to the rape culture. He's called on everyone in Pakistan to speak up and speak out against sexual assault to change this notion of temptation.

There was widespread condemnation on social media regarding the comments and many suggested it was disappointing to see a world leader victim blame.

In April this year, Mr Khan said something similar and it caused outrage all over the world.

"The incidents of rape of women ... [have] actually very rapidly increased in society," he said. "This entire concept of purdah is to avoid temptation, not everyone has the willpower to avoid it.

Purdah is the practice in certain Muslim and Hindu societies of using veils and screens to hide women's bodies from men or strangers. It is also the physical segregation of the sexes in public life to ensure men and women don't mix.

The Prime Minister claimed the rise in rape showed the 'consequences in any society where vulgarity is on the rise'.

Topics: News

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie