Three weeks ago, Pakistan's former prime minister, Imran Khan, survived an assassination attempt, although he was wounded in the leg. Khan was ousted from office in April of this year after three and a half years in office. Ever since, his PTI populist political party has made significant gains in regional elections, and he draws massive crowds to his rallies, where he demands early elections, calls out corruption and points fingers at the powerful Pakistani military for his removal. He spoke with Amna Nawaz this morning ahead of another massive march to Islamabad on Saturday. She asked him how he's doing since the attack. Well, I'm not, I was very lucky. I had three bullets at my right leg and some shabby on my left. So the two flesh wounds are healing well, but the bone got cracked by the third bullet. That's causing me a bit of a discomfort. But I expect in the next two, three weeks I should be walking, putting weight on my leg. We should mention the protest march that you've been leading, which should end up at the capital at your direction, is to call for early elections, which you've been calling for since you were ousted in a no confidence vote by Parliament back in April. But there are those that argue that your protests and your disruptions, which have gone on since you were ousted, actually disrupt the political and economic stability of the country. There are scheduled to be elections by next summer, I believe. So why not wait until then and run? Well, I'm not first of all, none of my activities have been disruptive. We have public rallies, people come to the rallies. We, what is our democratic and constitutional right, we talk about the injustice that is taking place in this country, where these, the cabal of crooks have been foisted on us. And secondly, the economy has gone to the ground. Financial markets outside Pakistan and within the country have lost confidence in this government. And all our economic indicators are going down. So if they don't hold elections immediately, it doesn't bother my party because we are gaining all the time. But our worry is that they will leave the country in a state where it will be beyond anyone's control. On this march, you have mobilized thousands and thousands of people to head towards the capital city. How worried are you about the possibility of violence once they get to the capital city? And what can you do to stop it, if so? Amna, I have done almost 60 to 65 rallies since, in the last seven months since I've been out of power. Never has any of my rallies been violent. The only time there was disruption was when I was, when I, when this assassination attempt took place that day when we, when we go to Pindi actually rather than Islamabad, it will be a completely peaceful protest. The reason why my strength has grown in Pakistan, why the party has got bigger with time is because the government has flopped. Now, if it goes the whole way, fine, we will wait. My only concern is that, you know, the, the, the way things are going, we could be heading towards chaos. I mean, economic chaos. But experts who look more broadly say that the country's economic dysfunction is not just about any one government. It is systemic. So you were in power for three and a half years. What did you do to address those problems while you were in office? The two parties have been in power in Pakistan for the, for 30 years and 30 years, the military governments have been in power. My party came, you know, we only had three and a half years in government. We broke all records of exports in Pakistan. And our text collection was the highest in our history. So we were heading in the right direction. You have repeatedly accused the United States of conspiring to remove you from office. You also said America treats Pakistan quote, like a slave. But then a few days ago, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, you said all of that is quote over, it's behind me, you indicated you would like to have a good relationship with the United States. So why the U. Turn? I'm the first to you. I mean, it's just a fact that the Pakistan-US relationship has been lopsided. I mean, you know, it is, it is not, for instance, the US India relationship, which I call a very civilized relationship or dignified relationship. In Pakistan, you know, we have been well, the war on terror, we were like a high done. And I think it is a very undignified relationship. If you were to win office, do you believe you could have a good working relationship with the United States? You know, the United States is a democracy. Democracy is accept criticism. You know, democracy is accept other people's point of view. You, master slaves, don't. Pakistan's relationship with the US is very important for us. So, just because, you know, the regime change, it shouldn't mean that I should have not infusion in relationship with the US. And yes, I have my right to criticize. What about enaboring Afghanistan? When the Taliban reclaimed power last year, you seem to welcome them back into power. They have dramatically curtailed rights for women. Today marks 429 days since teenage girls were banned from entering classrooms. Were you wrong to support their return to power? What happens in Afghanistan affects Pakistan? Pakistan needs peace to develop its economy. And then if this peace in Afghanistan, that Pakistan's future of connecting ourselves economically to Central Asia, it can only happen if this peace in Afghanistan. But peace at what cost? 40 years people in Afghanistan have suffered. So, all our interest is peace, whichever government comes in. If the, for the first time, there is peace in Afghanistan. Now about human rights, I mean, what is the world going to do? Did I am I justifying it? All I'm saying is, what should we do about it? Are we going to invade Afghanistan again to liberate the women? What are we going to do? The best way is to engage with them, bring them in the mainstream, and then put pressure on them, and hope that the people of Afghanistan, especially the women of Afghanistan, they're strong enough to assert their rights, give them time. In the last year plus, have you encouraged those leaders to let girls back into school? No, it's no, there is no communication. So, I mean, if there's communication, we would talk about girls' education and so on. But do you believe that they should let girls back into school? You have a platform here. If you were to deliver a message to them now, what would you say? Look, of course, look, Amna in Pakistan, in KPI, which is the modern province to Afghanistan, we give special stipends to parents who send the girls for education. We believe firmly that it's women education that actually build societies. That is the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan joining us today. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Amna.