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Journalism of Courage
LOS ANGELES, Aug 14: Pakistani cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan is the legal father of a 4-year-old Southern California girl born out of wedlock, a court ruled.
“Imran khan is the father of the child,” Superior Court Commissioner Anthony Jones said yesterday after a brief hearing.
Imran, who had refused to cooperate by taking a blood test for a genetic determination of paternity, didn’t show up for the proceeding. His attorneys also failed to appear, so a default judgment was entered.
“We believe that the complaint as originally filed was ill-motivated,” Imran’s New York attorney, Bernard Clair, said late yesterday.“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 Imran in 1987 and 1988 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 today,” Allred said. “We hope that one day he will open up his heart to his little daughter and give her the love, respect and support every little girl deserves.”
White got pregnant and Imran told her he hoped it was a boy, Allred said. “When it was learnt it would be a girl, Imran expressed disappointment and said the child would not be able to play cricket,” Allred said.
He urged White to have an abortion, but she refused, the attorney said.
Tyrian Jade was born on June 15, 1992, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Since Tyrian’s birth, Imran has never seen nor spoken to her, although he and White have spoken periodically during that period of time. He never paid any child support, the lawyer said.
During his quest to become Prime Minister, Imran denied he fathered a child out of marriage, which could have made him ineligible for the post.
