KARACHI- Over 100,000 people rallied in support of cricket hero
turned politician Imran Khan Sunday in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, a
local official said, boosting his image as a rising political force.
Khan,
59, leader of the opposition Movement for Justice Party, is scheduled
to address the growing crowd late Sunday. Many of them enthusiastically
waved his party's green and red flag and danced to the beating of drums.
"We estimate that more than 100,000 people have gathered," Javed Odho, a senior police official at the site, told AFP.
His October 30 rally in Lahore also drew more than 100,000 supporters.
Khan's national profile was cemented as the captain of the only Pakistani cricket team to clinch the World Cup.
The
1992 victory has helped propel Khan toward becoming the troubled
nation's next Prime Minister as he leads an anti-graft revolution, with
some politicians having already left their own parties to join Khan's
camp.
Among the defectors is former foreign minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi, who left the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, led by embattled
President Asif Ali Zardari. AFP
