Lahore: PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan Saturday said he wasn't against the US, and that he wanted friendship and not slavery.

Addressing a a large public meeting cum rally at the Lahore's National Hockey Stadium, Khan said Quaid-e-Azam had said that Muslims always struggled for freedom.

The party celebrated the 75 years of Pakistan's independence marked with fireworks and traditional songs.

The PTI Chairman said he had decided to "go to the people", starting from Rawalpindi, followed by Karachi, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Peshawar, Mardan, Attock, Abbottabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Jhelum, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, and Quetta.

"Today I have to give you a road map of real freedom, that country is lucky in which there are fanatical intelligent youth and whose mothers and sisters have the passion for freedom."

The PTI chief said his character assassination had been continuing for the last 26 years, but "look at the glory of Allah, today a large number of people have come for solidarity".

He said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah gave us freedom from slavery, a nation that is a slave never rises, fear is also a slavery, a person trades his conscience because of fear.

Khan said the idol of fear makes a person a slave, a slave nation can never rise, why do we walk in front of the world with outstretched hands?

The former premier said a nation that is a slave never rises, when a human being falls, it goes lower than animals, all kinds of tactics were used to defame me.

He said that since 26 years these people have been destroying my character, educated and honest people used to say that politics is very dirty, I entered politics for justice and self-righteousness.

The PTI stalwart said the revolution did not come with the sword, the intellectual revolution came from the minds, our people have a misconception that Islam spread with the sword.

Imran Khan said freedom does not come easily, but sacrifices have to be made. I know that my nation is ready for sacrifices. Until this imported government is dismissed and elections are held, we will continue our struggle and bring our nation together. Together we will clear the nation's debts.

"I went to Russia for the benefit of my people, who are they to ask why I went to Russia? Am I their slave? I wanted to buy cheap oil from Russia. I wanted to buy 20 million tons of wheat from Russia at cheap prices. When the imported government came, we talked about buying cheap oil from Russia."

Khan said our rulers were lying at the feet of America as they didn't have enough courage to say that this is the need of our people.

He announced the formation of a new "Tiger Force", claiming that it would work for "independence" as the people did before the partition.

Peshawar: Vacant seat of Constituency NA-31 of National Assembly from Peshawar candidates of various political parties are continuing to submit nomination papers for vacant seats, an official of the Election Commission said here Saturday.

The official disclosed that on behalf of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Haji Shaukat Ali has submitted the papers.

This seat has become vacant after the acceptance of the resignation of Shaukat Ali, a member of the National Assembly of PTI.

Election Commission is conducting by-elections on NA-31 on September 25.

One person was killed and dozens were injured when high winds caused part of the main stage to collapse at a dance music festival near the Spanish city of Valencia early on Saturday, emergency services said.

Other infrastructure was also damaged when gusts battered the Medusa Festival, a huge electronic music festival held over six days in the east coast town of Cullera.

Thirty-two people were taken to hospital and three remained there on Saturday afternoon, regional health authorities said.

Organisers said they were cancelling the rest of the festival for the safety of attendees.

"We are completely devastated and saddened at what happened this morning," organisers said earlier on the festival's Facebook page, adding that "extreme" weather conditions had caused damage to various infrastructure on the festival site.

"At around four in the morning unexpected and violent strong winds destroyed certain areas of the festival, forcing management to make the immediate decision to vacate the concert area to guarantee the safety of attendees, workers and artists," organisers said.

The festival, where French DJ David Guetta was due to play on Saturday, had DJs scheduled to play throughout the night on Friday across five stages. DJ Miguel Serna was on the main stage for his 3 a.m. to 4 a.m set when the incident occurred.

"It was a tense few minutes, I've never experienced anything like it before," he wrote on Instagram.

"The tragedy happened just at the end of my session on the main stage, just below it, which was the most affected (area). It was a few moments of horror, I am still in shock."

National weather agency AEMET said there had been "strong gusts of wind and a sudden rise in temperatures" during the night, with gusts of 82 kph (51 mph) recorded at Alicante airport in the Valencia region.

"Suddenly there was a lot of wind, very hot air, all the sand started to move, we saw tents flying," one festival attendee, named only as Laura, said.

"People started to come from the concerts and according to what they told us, parts of the stage, wood, were blown away, it was chaos."

National broadcaster TVE showed images of strong gusts of wind battering against people's tents and festival awnings in the middle of the night, as people shielded their eyes from the sandstorm-like conditions.

"We are in a state of shock because we were 30 metres away (from the stage). It could have been me, it could have been anyone," Jesus Carretero, who was at the festival with his brother, told TVE.

SOURCE: REUTERS