Imran Khan in a very recent interview blamed the victims of rape, for being raped. He explicitly stated “if a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots. It’s just common sense”.
This statement clearly holds the opinion that women provoke men to commit the crime of rape, otherwise they are innocent. This places the responsibility of this social evil on women. Many decades back, Zia Ul Haq, in the name of religion and sharia law, also placed the burden of guilt on women, who were victims of rape but were unable to provide the law enforcement agencies with sufficient witnesses.
The question arises, are we moving ahead or are we still stuck in those times where women are held accountable for their own abuse? There is another question that the nation wants to ask the Prime Minister. As per his opinion, if women’s dressing can provoke men to commit rape, what was so provoking in Zainab’s dress? What is so obscene about baby girls who are just few months old? What is so exciting about buried women that makes the men take the trouble of digging the graves and satisfy their mental sickness by raping some dead human beings?
Recently media highlighted a very disturbing news of a religious cleric sexually exploiting a child in his madrassa. How can one blame that child for what an old sick man did to him? Unfortunately, such cases have become a routine. One such incident occurs, it gets circulated on all media platforms, it receives some partial attention, and then comes a new case, a new victim, a new incident and a new story where a man was unable to control his filthy desires.
A man is actually so fragile? A woman’s dress can make him do something so immoral? What about the famous notions that men are superior, men are stronger, men are the caretakers of the women? According to the statement of Mr. Khan, it seems that its the other way round. Ironically and apparently women are controlling men and their activities.
If this statement is interpreted in the context of religion, even then one can remind the PM that if sequential priorities of the Quranic commandments are considered, then it is clear that Quran first commands the men to lower their gaze, and then commands women to cover themselves.
If rape is committed by men, they should be held responsible and accountable for it. The blame game should come to an end by now. Women cannot be held responsible for heinous crimes committed by these gentlemen of our society.
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