Jemima slams ex Imran for ‘blaming’ rape victims
She quotes Koran after former playboy tells women to cover up
JEMIMA Goldsmith has condemned her ex-husband, the president of Pakistan, after he suggested rape victims are to blame for their attacks.
Oxford-educated Imran Khan – once a mainstay on the London nightclub scene – made the remarks in a question and answer session with the Pakistani public on Sunday.
Asked what his government is doing to tackle a surge in sexual violence, the 68year-old former cricketer implied women should cover up to avoid temptation from men lacking ‘willpower’.
He said: ‘World history tells when you increase fahashi [vulgarity] in society, two things happen: sex crimes increase and the family system breaks down.
‘This entire concept of purdah [covering up or segregating] is to avoid temptation. Not everyone has the willpower to avoid it.’
His remarks were condemned yesterday by his ex-wife Miss Goldsmith, who wrote on Twitter: ‘I’m hoping this is a misquote/ mistranslation. The Imran I knew used to say, “put a veil on the man’s eyes not on the woman”... “Say to the believing men that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts.” Quran [Koran] 24:31 The onus is on men.’ Mr Khan, who went
Partied in VIP nightclubs
to public school in England, dated fashion journalist Susannah Constantine before marrying Miss Goldsmith in 1995.
At the time, Miss Goldsmith – who is now a screenwriter – was a socialite on the London party scene.
The pair had two sons before their split nine years later. Their divorce was blamed on difficulties Miss Goldsmith, the daughter of financier Sir James, encountered in adapting to political life in Pakistan.
Pointing to his playboy past, Mr Khan added in Sunday’s interview that ‘sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll culture’ in the UK had led to a 70 per cent rise in divorce rates due to ‘vulgarity’.
He also singled out India’s Bollywood, saying Delhi had become ‘a rape capital of the world’ due to indecency and ‘obscenity’ shown in films.
Leading politicians and women’s groups last night called on Mr Khan to apologise for his remarks. Pakistan’s human rights commission said they ‘betray a baffling ignorance of where, why and how rape occurs’. The commission added: ‘It also lays the blame on rape survivors, who, as the government must know, can range from young children to victims of honour crimes.’
Sherry Rehman, the leader of the Pakistan’s opposition Peoples Party, said: ‘The prime minister of Pakistan must stop blaming women for provoking violence against women, because – make no mistake – his remarks do just that.
‘His shocking remarks give blanket impunity to offenders, rapists, misogynists of all stripes.’ Hina Rabbani Khar, a former Pakistan foreign minister, added: ‘His current diatribe on normalising, mansplaining and justifying rape is unacceptable and dangerous.’
Pakistan is among the worst countries in the world for gender equality and has been rocked by a string of high-profile sexual assaults in recent years, including the gang rape of a lone woman on a motorway near Lahore. Twice-divorced Khan was no stranger to scantily-clad women as he partied in VIP nightclubs during his bachelor life in London.
His second marriage to BBC newsreader Reham Khan ended after nine months in 2015.
He wed his current wife, Pakistan’s first lady Bushra Wattoo, in a conservative ceremony in 2018, in which her face was totally shrouded in line with Islamic orthodoxy.