Imran Khan makes powerful plea for Pakistan from his hospital bed The crowd fell silent, straining to listen as Mr Khan, looking pale and his voice weaker than usual, spoke about his Muslim faith and his mantra for reform. "God will not take me from this world until a new Pakistan is built," he said. "There should be change in Pakistan and there was no other way to bring change in Pakistan but politics," he said. "I don't know what will happen, but my heart tells me that this time the day after tomorrow we will be saying thanks to God and we will be celebrating victory," he said. Mr Khan's absence did nothing to dampen the festive spirits of the crowd, estimated by one police officer and a city official at between 25,000-30,000, outside parliament. Songs were played from a large PA system in front of a sea of the red-and-green PTI flags being waved by young men and women. "We know change is coming," said Syed Ali Shah, a 22-year-old IT student clutching a plastic cricket bat. All of us are sad that Imran can't be here but we want to make him proud. I miss Imran Khan and wish he could be at this wonderful rally. I don't think his absence will dampen, but rather boost our morale," said 21-year-old student Hassan Ali. Although he has run an electrifying campaign, a question mark hangs over how well Mr Khan will do, considering he won only one seat in 2002. He boycotted polls in 2008.