Jemima Khan is normally very supportive of her ex-husband Imran Khan but even she had upbraided the Pakistani Prime Minister for recommending purdah as a way in which women could reduce the incidence of rape.

During a question and answer session with members of the public on Sunday on how Pakistan should combat a surge in rape cases, Imran also targeted Bollywood, saying Delhi had become “a rape capital of the world” due to indecency and “obscenity” shown in films.

“World history tells when you increase fahashi (vulgarity) in society, two things happen: sex crimes increase and the family system breaks down,” said Imran.

He suggested ways in which women could avoid sexual assault: “This entire concept of purdah is to avoid temptation, (because) not everyone has the willpower to avoid it.”

He said that while his government would introduce legislation to protect women from attacks, it was up to the whole of society to help by preserving modesty.

Jemima, the first of Imran’s three wives who married him in 1995 when she was 21 and Imran exactly twice her age — the couple divorced in 2004 and their sons, Sulaiman and Qasim live with their mother in London — said she hoped his words had been misconstrued.

“I’m hoping this is a misquote/ mistranslation,” she tweeted. “The Imran I knew used to say, ‘Put a veil on the man’s eyes not on the woman.’”

She also threw a line from the Koran (24:31) at him, which said: “Say to the believing men that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts,” reminding him, “The onus is on men.”

Jemima also recalled: “I remember years ago being in Saudi Arabia and an elderly woman in an abaya & niqab was lamenting the fact that when she went out she was followed & harassed by young men. The only way to get rid of them was to take her face covering OFF.

“The problem is not how women dress!”

Imran’s sentiments on how women should dress are similar to those of Tirath Singh Rawat, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, who equated women wearing ripped jeans to moral decay.

He was widely condemned after describing an encounter with unnamed woman he had met on a flight: ‘You run an NGO, wear jeans ripped at the knees, move about in society, children are with you, what values will you teach?’ ”

According to Imran, “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 acknowledged that rape was “spreading like a cancer” in Pakistani society and argued that preserving the Islamic concept of modesty be used as a defence. “Our family system is intact and we can fix our justice system and the institutions but if our family system breaks down, we will not be able to rebuild it.”

Imran’s second wife, Reham Khan, who was married to him before an acrimonious divorce, retweeted a report from the AP: “Pakistani rights groups are criticising Prime Minister Imran Khan after he claimed that wearing the veil — the traditional Islamic head covering — will protect women from sexual assault and not lead men into temptation.”

Reham, who has written a voluminous autobiography with alleged intimate details on Imran’s less charming personal predilections, commented: “The less he speaks the better it will be for all.”

According to the Guardian, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent watchdog, was “appalled” by Imran’s comments.

“Not only does this betray a baffling ignorance of where, why and how rape occurs, but it also lays the blame on rape survivors, who, as the government must know, can range from young children to victims of honour crimes,” it said.

Imran’s rape counselling has encouraged the Mail to publish a detailed account, together with glamorous pictures, of Imran’s playboy days in London when he was “no stranger to scantily-clad women as he partied in VIP nightclubs”.

It told its readers: “Of the 22,000 rapes reported in Pakistan in the last six years, just 77 people have been convicted as a result – a rate of 0.3 per cent which ranks among the lowest in the world. In February, the forensics department of Khyber Medical College

University caused outrage when it suggested that women should be charged for post-rape examinations that help secure convictions.”

It also recounted the “honour killing” of 26-year-old Pakistani social media star, Qandeel Baloch, dubbed “Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian”, who was drugged and strangled to death by her own brother in 2016.