Imran Khan Please Answer This: Aren’t Women Who’re Fully Covered Raped By Rapists?

My only question to the Pak PM is, how do we decide what is obscene and what is not? Has it been proven in some kind of specific research?

Trigger alert: This has themes of rape and victim blaming, and may be triggering to survivors.

Translated from the original in Hindi by Sandhya Renukamba.

~ What steps has the government taken to stop rape and child abuse, and are you satisfied with them?
~ Since you are talking about a Madine ki Sarkaar, why does the government not publicly hang rapists?

The Prime Minister, of course, avoided answering this question directly.

Rape has always existed in our society, but people did not talk about it before due to embarrassment, but now, more people are talking about it. In fact, even 1% of crimes against children and women are not reported in newspapers in Pakistan.

The Prime Minister said, “I want to say that just as corruption does not disappear by enacting laws, the same happens with rape cases. We have made the law on rape and child abuse very strict, but society should joint hands in combating it. Society has to decide that this crime is (equal) to the destruction of the society. ”

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I absolutely agree with this view of Prime Minister Imran Khan. But from what he said further, it seems clear that our fight against Victim Blaming is prolonged.

How does one decide what is obscene and what is not?

Imran Khan further linked the growing cases of rape and sexual exploitation to “obscenity”.

So how does anyone decide what is obscene and what is not? And how is this the only reason for rape? Has this been proven by doing some kind of special research? This is nothing but victim blaming, and letting the real perpetrators off the hook.

He further said, “If you behave in an obscene manner, it will have some effect on our society. Not everyone has the willpower to resist temptation. That is why segregation system and veiling is so important. ”

So are the layers of clothing on the woman’s body enough to stop rape? NO!

Men should be educated instead

If men do not have control, then of course, shouldn’t some kind of rehabilitation therapy be started for those who are so badly affected that they resort to violence? Instead of placing women under lock and key or inside veils, men should be educated.

Imran Khan further said that nowadays the divorce rate “has increased to more than 70 percent due to obscenity in that society.”

I think it is not wrong to increase the divorce rate; in fact, it is better than staying chained in an coercive relationship. That is why instead of expressing concern over the cases of divorce, we should express concern over the real issues. Like rape.

It is absolutely true that rape is everyone’s problem and the law is not enough, and we all should fight this together. But stop putting the blame on the wrong heads and hushing up those voicing their views on an important issue.

Image source: dawn.com, AFP/ File

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