Post date: May 07, 2013 10:1:3 PM
Imran Khan urges his supporters to take to the polls and cast their votes on May 11, speaking from his hospital bed after falling of a forklift during a rally.
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (MAY 07, 2013) (DUNYA TV) - Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan urged supporters to cast their votes in an upcoming election while lying in a hospital bed on Tuesday (May 7).
"You have to come out for yourselves on the 11th . Remember May 11th. In the Koran, Allah says: 'I never change the fate of a nation unless they themselves strive to change their fate.' You have to come out to change your fate. Do not look at which candidate from Tehreek-e-Insaf is contesting the election. Vote for the ideology; vote for (the party)," said Khan.The prominent Pakistani politician injured his head after falling off a mechanical lift raising him onto a stage at a rally on Tuesday four days before national elections, party and medical officials said.
Khan fell as the lift was just short of the 15 foot (4.5 metre)-high platform in the eastern city of Lahore.
Television footage showed the dazed leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party being led away to hospital with blood on his head.
Khan had stitches to his head and suffered a hairline compression fracture on a vertebrae on his back, a doctor at the hospital said.
Khan's former wife Jemima Khan tweeted: "He's in hospital & conscious now."
Khan's PTI is not expected to win the May 11 poll, but could be a major partner in a coalition government.
He has promised to cut down on tax evasion and corruption that have bledPakistan's treasury dry.
Khan was part of a Pakistani team that won the cricket World Cup in 1992.
His political party has had a marginal showing in previous polls but has benefited from a groundswell of support this year, especially from young, urban voters fed up with the country's corruption.