SONYA FATAH

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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The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, February 8, 2006
SONJA PUZIC, SONYA FATAH

TORONTO, PAKISTAN — Nearly $40,000 raised for the family of the Toronto taxi driver killed by a speeding car will be kept in the bank until officials determine whether Tahir Khan had any children and verify the identity of his widow.

More than two weeks after one of the luxury cars police say were racing on the northern edge of downtown struck and crushed Mr. Khan’s cab, suspicions about the existence of his children are fuelling rumours in Toronto’s Pakistani community.

The Toronto Islamic Foundation and Diamond Taxi Association, trustees of donation funds for the 46-year-old immigrant’s relatives, are alarmed and have asked the Pakistani consulate to investigate.

“From Day 1, people have been giving us conflicting stories about how many kids [Mr. Khan] has. Some say two, some say three, some say none,” said Mohammad Alam, president of the Islamic Foundation. “As trustees of the money collected, we want to know what is happening and where that money is going.”

Mr. Alam said the high commissioner in Pakistan told him Mr. Khan had three children, but he has asked for another confirmation, this time on paper, in light of the controversy.

Saleem Irshad, the assistant general manager of Diamond Taxi, said the firm will continue to collect donations but is in “no rush” to send the money to Mr. Khan’s relatives until his questions are answered.

When relatives gathered in the Punjabi village of Jamali Balocha to bury Mr. Khan on Feb. 2, there were contradictory statements.

His widow, Najima Batool, was not available. Her brother, Akbar Khan, said the couple had no children. Several villagers at the funeral agreed. And when the question was put to Tahir Khan’s father, Ansar, he said he didn’t know whether his son had any children.

Shortly after the burial ceremony, the family’s appointed representative, known only as Shabbir, rattled off the names and ages of the three children — Ramla, 13, Sabih, 11, and Fakhir, 4. But he refused to allow members of the news media to meet them.

“They are just children,” he said. “They are very upset by the loss.”

But Mr. Irshad, who spoke to Shabbir on the phone to arrange the return of Mr. Khan’s body to Pakistan, said the man who introduced himself as a long-time family friend never mentioned the couple’s children. Mr. Irshad said Diamond Taxi wired $5,000 for the widow to a National Bank of Pakistan account under Shabbir’s name.

At the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, which provides free representation to low-income members of the South Asian community, project manager Mehreen Raza said she tried many times to reach Mr. Khan’s widow. She spoke to Shabbir but he refused to let her speak with the woman.

“After I insisted,” Ms. Raza said, “he told me, ‘Look, if you really want to speak to her, I can put anyone on the phone and tell you it’s his wife. How would you know it’s his spouse?’ ”

Shoaib Sarwar, the vice-consul of Pakistan in Toronto, said the consulate will clear up the confusion as soon as possible. A three-day Shia religious holiday in the region around Jamali Balocha is slowing the process.

Mr. Khan was three days shy of receiving Canadian citizenship when he died.

Co-workers and friends said he was planning to bring his wife to Canada.

Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Mike Colle, has called on the federal government to grant Mr. Khan posthumous citizenship so that his wife may come to Canada if she wishes.

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Shattered family grieves as Toronto cab driver is laid to rest in his village in central plains of Punjab

The Globe and Mail, Friday, February 3, 2006

SONYAFATAH

Special to The Globe and Mail; Sonia Puzic

JAMALI BALOCHA, PAKISTAN — Wrapped in white cloth and sprinkled with rose petals, Tahir Khan was laid to rest in this Punjabi village nine days after a car crash on Mount Pleasant Road that took his life.

More than 400 men, many of them clothed in black, marking them as Shiites, followed the funeral procession down the dusty, tarred village road in Pakistan.

In his coffin, Mr. Khan’s face was uncovered, revealing sharp, striking features. The mourners, most of them members of the community, took one last look at him before the coffin was sealed and covered with a black shroud imprinted with Koranic verses.

Azhar Shah, the Imam, conducted the final rites as Mr. Khan’s body was lowered into the grave in the presence of his father, Ansar Khan, his brother, Shahid Khan, his wife’s four brothers and scores of relatives and close friends.

Afterward, a sombre mood descended as family members gathered for the first time since learning of Mr. Khan’s death.

Mr. Khan hailed from this village in central Punjab, a flat, desert-like region not far from the Jhelum and Chenab Rivers, and immigrated to Canada six years ago.

He sent money home to support his wife, Najma Batool, and their three children, Ramla, 13, Sabih, 11, and Fakhir, 4, who lived in Jhang city, sharing hopes of a reunion. Mr. Khan was to receive his Canadian citizenship last Friday and had planned to bring his family to Toronto.

Instead, a shattered collection of relatives from across Pakistan gathered to catch a last glimpse of a man who was to be the first in his locality to become a Canadian citizen.

Mr. Khan’s family did not want to discuss the details of the case in which two 18-year-olds, Dumani Ross and Alexander Ryazanov, face criminal charges in his death after an alleged street race between two luxury cars.

At the funeral, Mr. Khan’s elderly and frail father leaned on a relative for support and collapsed some distance away on the dusty ground of the cemetery.

He grieved publicly for his son, and suggested that it is immaterial what happens to whomever is found responsible.

“What’s the point?” Ansar Khan shrugged. “My son is dead. They should offer us compensation instead. Maybe, 50 to 100 million rupees [$1-million to $2-million].”

His comments were unexpected; most family members made an effort to avoid the media.

Male family members did not allow reporters to talk to female relatives, including Mr. Khan’s wife.

“She is virtually in a coma,” said Shabbir Khan, a long-time friend and a cousin of Mr. Khan’s Toronto roommate, Shahid Hasan. “She hasn’t eaten much for nine days, what will she say?”

Shabbir Khan, who works at the Karachi Port Trust, said that the family had suffered undue stress because of legal complications in clearing Mr. Khan’s body for transport back to Pakistan. “First we couldn’t find Tahir’s passport, so they had to issue a new one.”

He singled out Pakistan’s vice-consul in Toronto, Shoaib Sarwar, for going the extra mile in helping clear the complications.

Mr. Khan’s brother, Shahid, an inspector for the Intelligence Bureau in Islamabad, attended the funeral but was unavailable for comment.

Mr. Khan married his first cousin, Najma Batool, in 1993. For the first few years, the couple lived in different parts of the country, including Karachi.

Shabbir Khan said he spent almost two decades in the company of Mr. Khan, but he could not recall what Mr. Khan did for a living before he left for Canada, only that “he had worked here and there.”

Several organizations, including the Islamic Research Foundation, have offered the family free legal aid in handling the Toronto case.

“The Diamond cab company has offered to help us if we give them the authority,” Shabbir Khan added.

Offers of legal assistance and the hope of financial compensation aside, there seems little chance that Mr. Khan’s dream of having his family live in Canada will come true.

“The reason Tahir didn’t take his family with him to Canada was because it is prohibitively expensive, especially if your wife doesn’t work. He couldn’t afford it. Even if she gets Canadian citizenship, what difference does it make? She’s illiterate and she can’t support her family,” Shabbir Khan said.

Trust fund

Donations have been pouring into the trust fund for Tahir Khan’s family and $17,300 has been collected so far, said Jim Bell, general manager of Diamond Taxi Association. The company has sent a $5,000 cheque to Mr. Khan’s widow and is expecting to collect an insurance policy settlement on her behalf in the next two weeks. The decision to grant Mr. Khan posthumous Canadian citizenship has been left up to the incoming federal government, said a spokeswoman for Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Mike Colle. Sonja Puzic

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