Imran Khan's comments drew massive criticism. (File)
Author Taslima Nasreen on Tuesday took a swipe at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after he defended his earlier statement that the rise in sexual violence in his country, against children in particular, was caused due to “fahashi” (vulgarity). Mr. Khan's defence of his comments that he had made in April came in an interview with Axios on HBO.
Mr Khan suggested that avoiding “temptation in society” was one of the ways to address and prevent sexual violence against women.
On Tuesday, Taslima Nasreen tweeted a shirtless picture of Pakistan's Prime Minister, a cricketer-turned-politician, and wrote: "If a man is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on women, unless they are robots. (sic)"
The author's tweet was seen as a response to Mr. Khan's take on women's clothing.
In his interview with journalist Jonathan Swan, Mr. Khan had said, "If a woman is wearing very few clothes it will have an impact on the men unless they are robots. It's common sense."
He even defended his earlier comments made during a question-and-answer session in April. He said he was talking about the concept of “purdah”, adding that in Pakistan, they had a completely different society and way of life.
“So, if you raise temptation in society to a point — all these young guys have nowhere to go — it has a consequence in the society,” he said. Mr. Khan, when asked further, said that it depends a lot on the kind of society you live in. "If in a society people have not seen that sort of thing, it will have an impact on them."
Sharing a video clip in which the Pakistan Prime Minister is seen making controversial statements, Pakistan Muslim League (PML) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the world got an insight into the “mindset of a sick, misogynistic, degenerate and derelict” Imran Khan. “It is not women's choices that led to sexual assault rather the choices of men who choose to engage in this despicable and vile crime,” read Ms. Aurangzeb's tweet.
In another tweet, she added: "Maybe the misogynist, degenerate can defend paedophiles and murderers, as he advocates for a rapist, after all, men cannot be expected to control temptation. Just FYI Mr degenerate, self-control is a little thing upon which Allah places a great premium.”
Official statistics in Pakistan have revealed that at least 11 rape incidents are reported in the country every day, with over 22,000 cases reported to the police in the last six years, according to news agency ANI.