Imran Khan fathered illegitimate child, rules California court

A Los Angeles court ruled that cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan was the legal father of a four-year-old illegitimate southern California girl.

"Imran Khan is the father of the child," superior court commissioner Anthony Jones said on August 13, after a brief hearing.

Khan, who had refused to co-operate by taking a blood test for the genetic determination of paternity, did not show up for the proceedings. His attorneys also failed to appear, so a default judgement was entered.

Khan led Pakistan to a World Cup triumph in 1992. Earlier this year, he failed in his bid to become prime minister of Pakistan.

"We believe the complaint, as originally filed, was ill-motivated," said Khan's New York attorney, Bernard Clair. "We believe the mother may have been the unwitting tool of my client's opponents."

Sita White, who lives in Beverly Hills, had a relationship with Khan in 1987-88 and, when they met again in Los Angeles on October 2, 1991, she told him she wanted to have his baby, her attorney Gloria Allred said.

"We did not request child support," Allred said. "We hope that, one day, he will open his heart to his little daughter and give her the love, respect and support every little girl deserves.

"White got pregnant and Khan told her he hoped it was a boy. When he learnt the baby would be a girl, Khan expressed disappointment and said the child would not be able to play cricket. He urged White to have an abortion, but she refused," Allred said.

Tyrian Jade was born on June 15, 1992, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Since her birth, Khan has neither seen nor spoken to the child although he and White have spoken periodically during that period," said Allred. "He never paid any child support."

During his quest to become prime minister, Khan denied having fathered an illegitimate child, which could have made him ineligible to become prime minister.

"He categorically denies the paternity of this child," Clair said. "We think to use the child as a pawn in such a publicity circus demonstrates, to us at least, that the mother has other reasons for pursuing paternity."

Khan, 42, said he dated and frequented night clubs during his days as a cricketer and, before that, as a student at Oxford University. But, since retiring from sports in 1992, he said he has transformed himself into a devout Muslim.

He even vowed to marry a woman who observed purdah (life behind the veil). But, in 1995, he married British heiress Jemima Goldsmith. His political opponents have attacked Jemima, the daughter of the late English billionaire, Sir James Goldsmith, for her Jewish heritage. Khan says, though his wife's ancestors were Jewish, she was Protestant and had converted to Islam to marry him.

UNI