LAHORE, Jan 3: Barrister Farooq Ahmad Chaudhry, Mayor of Berry, Manchester, said on Thursday that political developments in Pakistan carried implications for the Pakistani community in the United Kingdom.

He was addressing a reception held jointly for him and newly-appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Punjab University, Dr Mujahid Kamran, by Chaudhry Akram, media adviser to former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi.

“I tell them (Pakistanis) to shun Pakistani politics. Pakistanis were able and capable of taking care of themselves and their affairs,” he said. Barrister Chaudhry, associated with the Labour Party, said he had donated his salary for the welfare of Pakistanis but when the cheque was presented to bank for opening up an account, the bank officials refused. “They said the money might go to the Taliban,” he said.

He added in today’s world, people were intricately connected and referred to a scientist’s claim that earth might collapse because of the weight of the growing human population.

To a question, he said the Indian community as compared to the Pakistani fared better because they were better educated when they came to the United Kingdom. “I hardly see any Indian driving a cab but the Pakistanis do,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mujahid Kamran recalled his experience abroad as a student in the backdrop of political developments in Pakistan. He said people abroad observed developments in Pakistan with keenness and raised all sorts of queries.

He said he was concerned about the frequency with which new courses were being offered by different departments of the university in the absence of the required faculty. He admitted that there was a lot of room for bolstering the standard of education being imparted by the university and denied that there was any dearth of funds. Dr Shafiq Jullandhari, Dr Mujahid Mansoori and others were also present at the reception.