Imran Khan's defiant address to nation indicates he won't quit as Pakistan PM without putting up a fight

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, reduced to a minority in the National Assembly and fighting to remain in power, on Thursday refused to resign and again alleged that there is a ‘foreign conspiracy’ working against his government.

"We are getting messages from some foreign countries... They say that they will forgive Pakistan if Imran Khan goes," he said in an address to the nation this evening, amid a buzz about backdoor efforts to reach a deal with the opposition to dissolve the lower house.

Khan, however, indicated that he would fight - "till the last ball" -- instead of resigning or cutting a deal. Referring to the vote of confidence on Sunday, he said that is when the "country's future will be decided".

Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) needs 172 votes in the lower house of 342 to foil the Opposition's bid to topple him. The Opposition has claimed that it has the support of 175 lawmakers and the Prime Minister should immediately resign.

If Khan is unable to prove his majority in Sunday's vote, he will be the first Prime Minister in the country to be ousted through a no-confidence motion.

Referring to the ‘conspiracy’, which he first mentioned three days ago, Imran Khan alleged on national television today that there have been messages that "if they fail to oust me, Pakistan will have to face difficult circumstances".

"Three stooges are sitting here working with foreign powers. They want Imran Khan to be ousted and want this certain person to take this place and everything will be fine then," he said. "If you think that your conspiracy will be successful, I want to tell you I will fight with this. They can't do anything," he said.

"I bear my own expenses, I live in my own houses, I don't have any factories," he added, in an evident reference to his former PM Nawaz Sharif.

There was also a broad hint about one of the ‘foreign powers’ that might be involved.

"People said that we are US collaborators. So many Pakistanis sacrificed their lives. Did anyone thank us for that? We were told if we don't back America, they will turn on us like a wounded bear. During 9/11, we said that if there's a terror incident in the US, we should help them but that wasn't our war to fight," he said.