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The High Commission of Pakistan, London expresses deep
sorrow and grief over the sad demise of Dr. James Shera, the former Mayor of
Rugby who breathed his last while he was in Pakistan on a family visit.
In a statement, the High Commissioner said, “The death of
Dr. James Masih Shera has deprived Pakistan and the British Pakistani community
of a true friend and a mentor”. Has was our very own Dr. James Shera who had a
selfless devotion to the cause of Pakistan and the community.
Paying tribute to Dr. Shera, the High Commissioner said that
he was a man of great integrity, hard work and interfaith harmony. Dr. James
was gifted with impeccable skills as a mediator, bringing people together from
across the political divide to find common ground and a way forward.
Dr. Faisal said that Dr. Shera was a ‘lifelong’ friend to
Pakistan and the British Pakistani Community. He was revered by all and sundry
owing to his selfless and unwavering support to the cause of Pakistan and its
People.
Dr. Shera made history in 1988 when he became the first
Pakistani to be elected Mayor of Rugby, and four years later he became one of
the first recipients of the prestigious Sitara-i-Imtiaz and then Quiad-i-Azam
Hilal Award Star of Pakistan in 2023, awarded by the President of Pakistan for
services to community and interfaith relations.
Dr. Shera was made an MBE in 2007 and a decade later was
made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Rugby – the highest honour the
borough council can bestow.
Born in a small rural village in Pakistan, Dr. Shera’s
journey towards playing a pivotal role in Rugby’s public life began when he
secured a scholarship to study at the Catholic University of Louvain in
Belgium. He hitch-hiked through Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece and
Yugoslavia before reaching Italy, where he caught a train to Brussels to start
his studies.
Friends in the UK led Dr. Shera to England in 1970 and a job
at Rugby station as a railway guard. After completing a post-graduate degree at
the University of Warwick, he became a teacher at Newbold Middle School, later
joining the county council education department where he worked until taking
retirement. In 2022, he was presented with an honorary doctorate from Coventry
University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to inter-faith
harmony and multi-cultural education.