The prince on Pakistan’s invisible throne
LEE HAN SHIH
Prince Karim Aga Khan invests up to US$150 million each year in projects helping developing nations.
He was an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. On October 2nd, 2000, he stood with other dignitaries including Cuban strongman Fidel Castro and former US President Jimmy Carter in Montreal’s magnificent Notre-Dame Basilica, the only Muslim in a sea of Christians. But no one could tell he was an outsider. For all appearances, the Aga Khan looked and acted like a rich white man, down to his thousand-dollar suit and his mannerisms and his Prince Charles-like English accent.
But Prince Karim Aga Khan, 70, a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima who was born in Switzerland, is a self-admitted Asian and one with a most unusual status.
Among the developing nations, from Pakistan to Tanzania, he is accorded the status of a head of state. And indeed he rules more people than many small countries.
Read at the source: http://www.theasiamag.com
Print PDF
Ismailimail 