Name: Riasat Ali Khan Age: 69 and not counting Nationality: Canadian Claim to fame: Built the first mosque in Western Canada
FOR many subcontinental immigrants, life in the US or Canada means working long hours at burger stands for little remuneration. They have only one purpose in life and that is to send money back home. Riasat Ali Khan was an exception to this rule. Instead of selling hot dogs, he became the beacon of hope and pride for many Pakistanis, as well as Indians and other nationalities of the subcontinent, who dreamed of one day making it big in Canada.
Sadly enough, recently, this supporter of multi-cultural integration was shot dead in front of his home. Though there has yet to be any claim and police have yet to determine the motive, many in the Indo-Canadian community fear that Riasat’s only crime was that he was of Pakistani descent.
Born in British India and brought up in post-Partition Pakistan, Riasat Ali Khan migrated to Canada in 1959. But unlike many other economic migrants, he was also retracing ancestral footsteps. His grandfather, Ahmed Khan, and his own father, Amanat Ali Khan, had both journeyed and lived in Canada and the USA as long back as 1912.
It was probably this passion for adventure that encouraged Riasat to travel half-way across the world and settle in Vancouver, Canada. Once there, he set up his own business and at the same time engaged himself in a healthy public life. He was the first man of Indo-Canadian origin to serve both as a Corrections and as a Probation Officer in the early 1960s.
His business career was diverse with interests in logging, real estate, insurance and investments. The year 1963 was a milestone in his life when he not only established a Pakistan Canadian Association, but also established the first mosque in Western Canada. That mosque is still very much there in the small building with the crescent moon on Heather Street in Vancouver.
But more than anything else, his multicultural philosophy was dictated by his want for a just multicultural society. He served as the head of various multicultural societies, including the Vancouver Multicultural Society. He was also a board member of the British Columbia Cancer Society.
But all this good work is now nothing more than a vague memory, just because of a senseless crime. Riasat Ali Khan was mercilessly gunned down in the driveway of his home. He was shot five times, but still managed to struggle to his doorstep. He leaves behind a wife, Tyaba, six children, several grandchildren and a large number of friends, relatives and well-wishers, both in Canada and Pakistan.
Though actively involved in the local political scene, Riasat had no enemies to even speak of. In fact, he ran his insurance business, Allied Insurance, along with a business partner of the Sikh faith, Jassa Grewal.
FOR many subcontinental immigrants, life in the US or Canada means working long hours at burger stands for little remuneration. They have only one purpose in life and that is to send money back home. Riasat Ali Khan was an exception to this rule. Instead of selling hot dogs, he became the beacon of hope and pride for many Pakistanis, as well as Indians and other nationalities of the subcontinent, who dreamed of one day making it big in Canada.
