Pakistani Prime Minister Under Fire for Rape Remarks
Voice of America
ISLAMABAD - Human rights and women’s rights groups in Pakistan are demanding a public apology from Prime Minister Imran Khan for his statement linking women’s clothing to causes of rape. Rape is perpetrated by rapists and it's culture is strengthened by rape apologists. PM @ImranKhanPTI must apologize for this callous and damaging remarks and desist from blaming the victims . Read full statement of condemnation here :https://t.co/GoQsgmgkHP pic.twitter.com/MrFoBRR5QL
“This entire concept of veil in our religion (Islam) is to avoid temptation in the society. Not everyone in the society has the will power to control (himself). The more you raise the level of obscenity in a society, the more it’ll have an impact,” Khan said Sunday in a live television broadcast during which he was answering callers’ questions. In a protest held Thursday outside the National Press Club in capital Islamabad, activists expressed outrage and demanded a public apology. “I feel that it is not just the women of Pakistan, it is also the men of Pakistan who have been slapped in the face by the prime minister because he said that men are unable to control themselves, they can’t control the temptation of seeing women in public without being veiled,” said activist Tahira Abdullah.
Dana Shem Tov, sister of Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov, reacts as she watches his televised release by Hamas militants at the family home in Tel Aviv on Feb. 22, 2025. A woman mourns at a memorial for deceased hostages Shiri Bibas, her two children, Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz at “Hostages Square,” while Israelis gather while waiting for the release of six hostages in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 22, 2025. Omer Wenkert, a hostage held in Gaza since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, is escorted by Hamas militants as he is released in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, on Feb. 22, 2025.
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A mahout sprays water over elephants during their daily bath in a river, at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala on Feb. 16, 2025 as Sri Lanka's main elephant orphanage marked its 50th anniversary. Tourists take pictures as elephants return to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage after taking their daily bath in a river in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 16, 2025. Elephants stroll across the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 16, 2025.
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A poster shows pictures of the Bibas family, top row from second left: Yarden, Shiri, and their sons Ariel and Kfir, who were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Feb. 21, 2025. Words above read, '37 members of Kibbutz Nir Oz are still missing.' Palestinian Hamas militants and people gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 20, 2025.