Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been facing a barrage of criticism after he blamed women's clothes for the surge in rape and sexual assault cases in the country.
He made the remark during an interview with "Axios on HBO".
"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," he said.
He even went on to justify his statement saying, "Whatever is acceptable in our culture, must be accepted everywhere else. It's not."
His remarks have not gone down well with netizens, Opposition leaders and journalists slamming the Prime Minister left and right.
One of the tweet read, "Imran Khan is r*pe apologist and hates women."
Another user wrote while sharing a clip of the interview, "Disappointing and frankly sickening to see PM Imran Khan repeat his victim blaming regarding reasons for sexual violence in Pakistan, Men are not "robots", he says. If they see women in skimpy clothes, they will get "tempted" and some will resort to rape Shameful!"
"Earlier, PTI spokespersons argued the PM never attributed women's dress to sexual violence but was speaking generally about pardah for both men and women. Here the PM leaves no room for any doubt (or spin). A pity the outcry earlier had no impact on him," she further added.
"Disappointing and frankly sickening to see PM Imran Khan repeat his victim-blaming regarding reasons for sexual violence in Pakistan," tweeted Reema Omer, Legal Advisor, South Asia, International Commission of Jurists.
The Pakistani Prime Minister made such statement earlier as well when he said vulgarity was to blame for the rise in cases of sexual violence in Pakistan.
"This entire concept of purdah is to avoid temptation. Not everyone has the willpower to avoid it," he said during live TV interview while responding to a question about the steps taken by his government to prevent rape and sexual assault cases.
People in hundreds had signed a statement demanding apology from him for his regressive views.
