"Once again I want to thank everyone present here for making me realise there is a lot more important thing I can do to improve my life and the life of others."

Asked to describe about his feeling after receiving the Doctorate, Khan said, "This is one of the finest things that has happened in my career."

Answering a question why he did not go to the Bedfordshire University to receive the honour, he said, "I wish I should have gone earlier. But I have been suffering a couple of injuries, one after the other. As a matter of fact, these people (the Vice chancellor and others) relented and listened to confer the doctorate in London as I can not travel much."

Khan, who still has his left hand in a sling, said: "I would love to visit the University. I have seen some very nice things about the University in the video. Insha Allah, I would like to visit it soon."

Professor Les Ebdon said, "We will be delighted to have you. You can also meet the students."

Asked whether he would be instituting any scholarship in the University, Khan said: "I don't think I am such a big person to institute scholarship. But I would like to help people without lending my name."

When a Pakistani journalist pointed out that the 'Routes 2 Roots' was rendering an yeoman service by bringing people of India and Pakistan together, Khan said, "We people from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have a lot of cultural similarities. My family firmly believe in it. My father was from Peshawar in Pakistan and my mother from Hyderabad in India."

... contd.