Prominent Pakistani politician and former cricket star Imran Khan is in a hospital after sustaining skull and back injuries in a fall at an election campaign rally.
Officials at the hospital in the city of Lahore, where he is being treated, said doctors had advised Khan, 63, to rest for at least a week, possibly throwing into turmoil his campaign for the May 11 general elections.
Khan was rushed to hospital after falling about 5 meters from a lift taking him to the stage at a rally in Lahore on May 7.
Television footage showed Khan bleeding from the head as he was carried by aides through the crowd at the event in Pakistan's second-largest city.
In a televised statement from his hospital bed on May 7, he urged people to vote for his Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI) party.
"You have to come out for yourselves on the 11th. Remember May 11. 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," Khan said.
"Do not look at which candidate from [the PTI] is contesting the election. Vote for the ideology, vote for [the party]."
Khan's party won only one seat in 2002 and boycotted the polls in 2008.
He has emerged as a serious contender in the upcoming elections.
Officials at the hospital in the city of Lahore, where he is being treated, said doctors had advised Khan, 63, to rest for at least a week, possibly throwing into turmoil his campaign for the May 11 general elections.
Khan was rushed to hospital after falling about 5 meters from a lift taking him to the stage at a rally in Lahore on May 7.
Television footage showed Khan bleeding from the head as he was carried by aides through the crowd at the event in Pakistan's second-largest city.
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In a televised statement from his hospital bed on May 7, he urged people to vote for his Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI) party.
"You have to come out for yourselves on the 11th. Remember May 11. 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," Khan said.
"Do not look at which candidate from [the PTI] is contesting the election. Vote for the ideology, vote for [the party]."
Khan's party won only one seat in 2002 and boycotted the polls in 2008.
He has emerged as a serious contender in the upcoming elections.
