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Imran
Khan visit cancelled after donation row
BY MEGAN DOHERTY
- The Canberra Times - 9/10/2008
The Canberra-based Pakistan
Australia Friendship Association has withdrawn an invitation for cricket legend
Imran Khan to visit the national capital this weekend because it was asked to
donate $25,000 to his political party.
The association's president, Khawar Saleem Khan, stressed that the demand was
made not by Imran Khan himself, but by Melbourne man Rasim Ali Shah who is the
Australian coordinator of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
Mr Shah has denied he demanded money, saying it was Imran Khan's strict
timetable which prevented him from visiting Canberra. ''The problem is everyone
loves him, the problem is he has a tight schedule,'' Mr Shah said.
Imran Khan, now a politician in Pakistan, is due to arrive in Australia today,
16 years after Pakistan's World Cup victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in
1992.
He has been paid a fee to speak at the Commercial Radio Australia Awards on the
Gold Coast this weekend and will also attend functions in Sydney and Brisbane
before returning to Pakistan on Sunday. The Pakistan Australian Friendship
Association planned to have him attend its 25th anniversary celebrations in
Canberra on Sunday.
Khawar Saleem Khan said a venue had been tentatively booked, a huge birthday
cake ordered and about 600 guests had accepted. But ''at the last minute'' the
party's Australia coordinator Mr Shah had called the organisers to ''demand a
commitment from us to raise $25,000 for PTI''.
An email sent to association members this week said it could not meet the
''unreasonable demand'' and had had to withdraw the invitation, although it
believed Imran Khan had nothing to do with the demand.
''Our love for the legend is still there and we are sure that most of our
members feel this way too, but being a non-political organisation we are unable
to commit to raise money for a political party,'' the email read.
Mr Shah said there was ''no proof'' that he demanded the money for PTI or that
Imran Khan had even accepted an invitation to visit Canberra.
However, Khawar Saleem Khan said Mr Shah had contacted the association to let it
know which flights Imran Khan might take to Canberra. He believed Imran Khan's
attendance had been confirmed before the demand for the $25,000 was made.
''There's no proof, of course, because it [the demand] was made in a phone
call.''
Mr Shah said Imran Khan was a politician and his raising money for the party was
no different to ''the Liberal Party raising money''. But he said Imran Khan was
only visiting ''festivals'' in Sydney and Brisbane. He confirmed Imran Khan was
being paid to attend the Commercial Radio Australia Awards.
