Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan collected donations of more than Rs5 billion for flood victims in an international telethon.

Senator Faisal Javed Khan hosted the three-hour long telethon organized to collect funds from local and overseas Pakistanis.

According to PTI social media accounts, during the telethon, people pledged or contributed over Rs5 billion for flood victims across the country, after which the process of sending the funds has also been started.

Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief ministers, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Mahmood Khan, Imran Khan’s former assistant for social security Sania Nishtar, designer Maria B, actor Atiqa Odho, television presenter Shiffa Yousafzai and others participated in the telethon. Renowned scholar Maulana Tariq Jameel also offered a special prayer in the telethon.

British boxer of Pakistani origin Amir Khan donated Rs5 million in the telethon.

The telethon took place after a court in Islamabad suspended a ban on the live broadcast of former prime minister Imran Khan’s speeches. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had placed the ban which was suspended by the Islamabad High Court.

During the telethon, Imran said that more dams were needed to protect from such disasters in the future.

The PTI chief, who has been involved in a nationwide show with his political rivals since his ouster from power in April this year, said that he would continue to fight for ‘real freedom’ in the country along with helping the flood victims.