KARACHI: The representatives of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and 15 other civil society organisations and feminist collectives here on Thursday strongly condemned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s "troubling remarks" linking women’s attire to incidence of rape.
They demanded an immediate public apology from the prime minister and assurances that his highly flawed perception of how and why rape occurs does not inform the government’s attempts to tackle what is a serious and prevalent crime in Pakistan.
The representatives of organisations that attended the press conference at the Karachi Press Club included HRCP, the Joint Action Committee, Siaasi Aurat Tehrik, Women’s Action Forum, Sindh Commission on the Status of Women, Tehrik-e-Niswan, Aurat March, Pakistan Institute for Labour Education and Research, Peace and Development Organisation, Aurat Foundation, Women Democratic Front, Home-Based Women Workers Federation, Democratic Youth Front, Sindhu Vaas Foundation, Gender Interactive Alliance, Bait ul Momineen Church, First Church for Eunuchs and Legislative Watch Group.
“This is the second time that the prime minister has reduced sexual violence to an act of ‘temptation.’ This is dangerously simplistic and only reinforces the common public perception that women are ‘knowing’ victims and men ‘helpless’ aggressors,” the joint statement said.
For the head of the government -- a government that claims to defend the rights of women and vulnerable groups -- to insist on this view is simply inexcusable, the statement said. “It is equally disheartening to see that several women members of the ruling party have jumped to defend the prime minister and justified his comments in vague, illogical terms.”
Even a cursory glance at the news should make it painfully clear that survivors of sexual violence can include women, girls, men, boys and transgender persons and and that such acts can occur in schools, workplaces, homes, and public spaces, it added.
It was also announced that all civil society and women rights groups and individuals will organise a protest on Saturday (tomorrow) outside the Karachi Press Club to demand a public apology from the prime minister.
