Pakistan’s ex-PM Khan holds ‘record-breaking’ Twitter Spaces session

Islamabad: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan held a massive live session on Twitter, which his party termed a “record-breaking” moment as the number of live listeners reached 165,000 at one point.

The chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) went live on Twitter Spaces and other social media platforms on April 20 night to connect with his supporters from around the world.

Twitter Spaces is a feature that allows users to engage in real-time, audio conversations with others.

Khan went live on several social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube where his video was viewed thousands of times but he apparently attracted the biggest audience on Twitter, where at least 1.1 million tuned in to listen to his session 16 hours after the live session.

“Imran Khan’s space session sets the record for the most listened-to space since its launch,” PTI Senator Faisal Javed Khan tweeted. PTI members claimed that Khan’s Twitter Spaces created a new record in Twitter’s history, beating the record of more than 44,000 people who attended K-pop star BamBam’s spaces as per LetsOTT digital media company.

PTI social media team members Arslan Khalid and Jibran Ilyas, who conducted the live session thanked Twitter “for increasing limits” of attendance. PTI team had requested Twitter to ensure that the server does not crash due to massive live participation.

Khan became the first Pakistani leader who went live on all media platforms simultaneously to connect with his supporters.

During the session that lasted about 80 minutes, Imran Khan talked about the importance of rule of law, independent judiciary, and strong military. In response to a question, he told his listeners that “Pakistan needs strong army more than it needs Imran Khan,” urging them not to speak against the state institution.

He also recalled that the only time he spent in prison was for raising his voice for independent judiciary, stressing that the country cannot move forward without justice and rule of law.

Responding to a question on ‘foreign funding case’ and possible disqualification of the PTI party, Imran Khan said it was not foreign funding but party fundraising case, adding that PTI is the only political party with proper donation-based political fundraising in the country.

He acknowledged that his party faced a tough time in legislation during the three and a half years of government due to a thin majority in the parliament.

Khan is will hold a power show in Lahore on April 21 at Minar-e-Pakistan. Khan says he is leading a “freedom struggle” against a “foreign conspiracy of regime change” and has vowed to protest until fresh elections are announced.

The Lahore rally is the third major public march after massive demonstrations in Peshawar and Karachi since Khan’s ouster. Khan became the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to be ousted via a vote of no-confidence on April 10. The former premier alleged the no-confidence campaign to depose him was backed by the US since he was pursuing an “independent foreign policy.”