By Mashal Khan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities blocked former Prime Minister Imran Khan's fundraising program for flood victims on TV channels, Khan claimed on Monday.

On Sunday night, the former cricket star turned politician held his second international telethon to collect funds for flood victims as over 60% people of the South Asian nation are underwater.

“Imported govt of cabal of crooks & their handlers stooped to new lows last night when they tried to blackout my telethon for flood relief fund raising. First they pressured channels not to air telethon. When some channels continued to air telethon they threatened cable operators,” Khan tweeted.

Over 1,400 people lost lives and more than 12,000 wounded since mid-June in the devastating flood.

According to official data, over 33 million people across the country were affected by floods and over 1.7 million houses were damaged and destroyed.

“This shows how petrified they are of our rising popularity amongst the nation. Also, they know no one trusts them with their money given their record of loot & plunder. So they sought to deny fundraising to aid flood victims just to get at me & my Party. Unbelievable callousness.

“Despite all this we managed to raise Rs 5.2 billion in just 2 hours. I want to thank everyone who pledged incl our overseas Pakistanis especially those based in the US,” Khan said.

In his first live event, Khan collected over Rs 5 billions in just three jours on August 29. 

The government moves widely criticized by people to blocked Khan’s fundraising program, who wants to help the victims as millions people are facing a critical situation. 

So far, no clarification has been issued by the authorities that why they blocked Khan's live event for flood victims on TV channels.