Imran Khan defies 'severe threat alert', vows to speak at Lahore rally

NEW DELHI: Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday night he would address a public rally in the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday despite the local administration warning of a security threat.

"Whatever happens, I'll go there," Imran said in a live online conversation.

He said life-and-death decisions are made by Allah and a person could take only reasonable precautions.

"If you think you can fully secure yourself, it can't happen. If I shut myself in a room, thinking it will prolong my life, it too cannot happen," he said in his Twitter Spaces interaction, which at one point had a record 165,000 individuals listening to him.

Imran said the Lahore event would attract "a record crowd in Pakistan's history."

Lahore is the third big public gathering organised by Imran's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party since his government was deposed in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence earlier this month.

The earlier two rallies in Peshawar and Karachi attracted big turnouts. Lahore's local administration on Wednesday suggested to PTI leaders that Imran should not make a physical appearance at the rally and instead address it virtually "in light of severe threat alerts received from security agencies and as per latest intelligence assessment made at the district and provincial levels."

-- BERNAMA