By Lucy-Claire Saunders
Caught in the warm summer breeze, newspaper pages swirl across the empty steps of Vancouver’s Jamia Masjid mosque. Above the stone archway, time and neglect have taken their toll — a blue ‘I’ is missing from Jamia; the word ‘Vancouver’ has all but fallen away.
And yet for one man, the passing years have not faded memory, nor eroded resolve.
Much has happened since 1963, the year Haroon Khan’s father founded this city mosque — the first in British Columbia and the second in all of Canada when it was erected on Eighth Street between Cambie and Oak 45 years ago.
Just being here snaps Haroon back to his childhood. He recalls many happy hours spent on the soft carpets within these walls, facing Mecca and praying proudly with the man who built this house of worship, his father, Riasat Ali Khan.
Today, memories are all that Haroon has of his father — the beloved community leader was gunned down in his Surrey driveway five years ago in a murder case that remains open and unsolved.
The Jamia Masjid mosque now stands as a public monument to Riasat, and a private reminder to a son that his father did great things before a gunman drove up alongside him as he stepped out of his car, and pumped five bullets into his body.
Five years on, Haroon still wakes up mornings asking himself, ‘Who?’ and, ‘Why?’
"I am still devastated to this day," says Haroon. "It still hurts to think about it, having that feeling like you don’t know what happened."
Plagued by more questions than answers, Haroon, 38, is producing a film length documentary and writing a book — Random Acts of Kindness: The Life and Legacy of Riasat Ali Khan — in an attempt to make sense of his father’s brutal murder. With hundreds of interviews on tape, the project is a brave legacy to Riasat Ali Khan’s unwavering commitment to multiculturalism, and his fight against racism in every form. "If you went to a community meeting you would always see Riasat," recalls Lynn Moran, executive director with Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies (AMSSA), a coalition of 85 Metro Vancouver agencies that delivers immigrant settlement services and promotes anti-racism.
"Riasat was very involved in a number of immigrant and multicultural agencies and was on the AMSSA board for a number of years as well," she says.
Last week, the AMSSA board met to decide the 2008 recipient of the annual Riasat Ali Khan Diversity Award. Moran would not say which agency has been chosen this year, only that there will be an official announcement in September.
But she did explain why the prestigious award bears Riasat’s name.
"Following his untimely death, the AMSSA board felt they really wanted to recognize the many contributions that (Riasat) had made," she says. "He was always a very informed, reliable and active member of the community."
Originally from Pakistan, Riasat Ali Khan was the first South Asian corrections and probation officer in Canada during the early 1960s. He helped draft the first multicultural policy for B.C.. And he founded the first Pakistani service society in Canada — the Pakistan Canada Association, formerly known as the Islamic Centre of Vancouver.
From working in corrections to starting his own business in logging, farming and property development, Riasat Ali Khan was always able to weave politics and activism throughout his daily life, even as a small boy growing up in Pakistan. At 14 years old, he handled land transfers for his neighbours and while earning his BA in law at Dyal Singh College in Lahore he was president of the student union.
In Canada, being active within the community came natural to Riasat. He would personally drive to the Vancouver International Airport and pick up new immigrants and house them until they found a place of their own, friends recall. He would extend a caring hand to anyone, even when it didn’t make sense to others.
"I met (Riasat) when I was prosecuting a case," recalls B.C.’s Attorney General, Wally Oppal. "Riasat was assisting the accused. I thought to myself, ‘Boy, this has got to be a good guy if he’s helping out such a down-trodden person.’"
Widely known and roundly praised, Riasat had no known enemies, according to friends and family. Which makes his murder, at the age of 69, all the more perplexing.
Metro Vancouver’s Muslim community has not forgotten the tragic passing of one of its most celebrated members. Dissatisfied with the progress of the stalled RCMP probe, the community has begun pushing for answers.
Pakistan’s new Consul General in Vancouver, Moin-ul-Haque, says the mystery of Riasat’s murder is well known in Pakistan. Only weeks into his new diplomatic assignment, Moin-ul-Haque told the South Asian Post that he is committed to pressing the matter with the appropriate authorities in Canada.
"I have spoken with the son," said Moin-ul-Haque. "It has been several years and this murder case has never been solved. I will be looking in to it."
Meanwhile, speculation swirls in the close-knit community. Was this a case of mistaken identity? Was Riasat living some kind of double life? Were his sons? Did some sin of the distant past catch up with the man?
According to MLA John Nuraney, Riasat Ali Khan had political aspirations. Encouraged by his friends, Riasat, says Nuraney, had often considered running for a Liberal seat in the federal government.
"Riasat was always aspiring to go into politics and we all encouraged him to do so," he says. "When he heard about his murder, we were all completely shocked. We could just not believe it."
Was Riasat’s murder politically motivated? The community can only guess.
Metro Vancouver’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) spokesperson Cpl. Dale Carr describes the current investigation as "not one of our more active cases," and was not able to provide details about the investigation by deadline.
The initial police reports indicate neighbours that night on January 6, 2003, saw an assailant or assailants fleeing the scene — Riasat managed to stagger to the front door, rang the door bell and fell into his son Fazal’s arms before dying — in a mid-1980s pick-up truck with tinted windows and a black canopy.
The Khan family — Riasat is survived by his wife Tyaba and their six children and many grandchildren — continues to appeal for public assistance in the case, urging anyone who has any information to contact IHIT or Crime Stoppers at 669-TIPS. The reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case currently stands at $100,000.
Outside the mosque his dad built, Haroon says his faith in family and Islam has helped him cope with his father’s murder. He believes justice will one day be served.
Removing his shoes, Haroon steps inside the Jamia Masjid mosque. Inside, the sound of children’s laughter echoes through the walls from the rooms below. Last year, the mosque opened a non-denominational preschool for the neighbourhood kids. His father, says Haroon, would have been pleased.
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MLA John Nuraney |
"Riasat was an upstanding citizen. He was the first man I know of who took interest in federal politics on behalf of the Muslim community."
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Attorney General
Wally Oppal |
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