The Globe and Mail, Friday, March 3, 2006
ANTHONY REINHART
With a report from Sonya Fatah
More than a month after Tahir Khan was killed in what police say was a street race, officials have finally determined that the taxi driver left behind a wife, but no children, in his native Pakistan.
This confirmation, announced yesterday by Ghalib Iqbal, the Pakistani consul-general in Toronto, ends a series of conflicting and sometimes colourful assertions about Mr. Khan’s family status, and paves the way for tens of thousands of dollars in donations and insurance benefits to flow to the dead man’s relatives.
Pakistani officials confirmed the identities of Mr. Khan’s next of kin on Tuesday, Mr. Iqbal said. They include his widow, Najma Batool, as well as his parents, a brother and a sister.
Mr. Khan, 46, died on Jan. 24 when his Diamond Taxi was struck broadside on Mount Pleasant Road. Two Toronto teenagers, who police allege were racing each other in their parents’ Mercedes-Benzes, are charged in his death.
Almost immediately afterward, differing reports began to circulate about whether Mr. Khan had children. The inconsistencies persisted through his burial Feb. 2 in his home village of Jamali Balocha, in Pakistan’s Punjab Khusab district.
After the funeral, Ms. Batool’s brother, Akbar Khan, said the couple had no children, but a family friend named Shabbir gave names and ages of three children: Ramla, 13, Sabieh, 11, and Fakhir, 4. He refused to allow reporters to meet the youngsters.
Eight days later, Akbar Khan changed his story and told The Globe and Mail that the three children were indeed his sister’s. He said the children were in a state of near-hysteria over their father’s death, and that “four-year-old Fakhir just cries day and night.”
Yesterday, Mr. Iqbal was at a loss to explain the conflicting reports. “I have, really, no idea why these claims came forward,” he said.
Mohammad Alam, president of the Islamic Foundation of Toronto, speculated that relatives of the couple might have been trying to capitalize on the death of Mr. Khan.
“I don’t think the motive was to generate more funds” through donations to the family, Mr. Alam said, but to win permission for surviving family members to immigrate to Canada. After the death of Mr. Khan — who was three days shy of receiving his Canadian citizenship when he died — Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Mike Colle, called on the federal government to award citizenship posthumously so that the taxi driver’s family could move to Canada if they wished.
A spokesman in Mr. Colle’s office said yesterday that his request to Ottawa still stands.
Since Mr. Khan’s death, the Islamic Foundation and Diamond Taxi have collected more than $36,000 in donations for the family. Relatives stand to collect a further $45,000 in life insurance.
Before the money can flow to Mr. Khan’s next of kin, they must establish a legal entity in Canada to oversee his estate, and to launch a planned civil action against those responsible for his death.
Mr. Alam’s group has been in contact with the family and expects to take on this role, though “nothing is finalized yet,” he said.
This prospect has raised concerns at the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, a non-profit agency that provides free representation to South Asians of limited means.
Mehreen Raza, the clinic’s pro bono project manager, questioned the Islamic Foundation’s ability to secure the best lawyers. She also expressed fear that the interests of Ms. Batool — who has been kept away from the media by male family members, some of whom have clearly lied about the existence of children — will take a backseat to those of her relatives.
“We don’t know if she’s had access to any information whatsoever so far,” Ms. Raza said. Mr. Alam said he has fielded calls from Ms. Raza and three law firms interested in working for the family, but that no one can be chosen until the family grants power of attorney to the foundation.
No matter who winds up representing Mr. Khan’s relatives, “we will do whatever Canadian law asks us to do,” he said.
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