Amir Khan says he will travel to Pakistan before the end of the year to show his support for the victims of the army school massacre in Peshawar.
Khan, who returned to England from Las Vegas where he saw off Devon Alexander last weekend, is one of the most high-profile sportsmen in Asia and hopes his trip will "send a statement" as the country of his parents' birth tries to recover from the atrocity committed by the Taliban where 141 people, mainly children, were killed.
“I will be going to Pakistan between Christmas and New Year,” he told several national newspapers.
“Talking about this stuff could be threatening for me, but I just want to speak the truth and tell people what is happening is wrong.
“I think it’s more important now than ever to go over there. I think it will send a statement to a lot of people that Amir Khan is going there to make a difference. I want it to be a better country. It’s just a shame - I cannot believe how sick some people are.”
Khan, who has already donated the gold shorts worth £30,000 he wore during the Alexander fight towards rebuilding the school, says the appalling act hit him especially hard after becoming a father for the first time in May.
“The news hurt me even more having a little girl,” he said.
“Imagine sending my daughter to school and hearing that she got killed. Innocent kids, killed over nothing. They had nothing to do with anything, they had not done anything, and the Taliban went and killed them.
“They are killing their own people and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why are these people doing that? Have they got no brains?’ Setting the teachers on fire in front of the kids? These people are ruthless.
“It’s very disgusting seeing or hearing stuff like this. You can never think people will be that sick in their mind.”
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