FAITH minister Baroness Warsi has visited the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium to remember Commonwealth soldiers who fought for Britain.
The Dewsbury peer laid a wreath at the memorial to Sikh soldiers in Hollebeke.
Her visit is part of the Government’s programme to commemorate the forthcoming centenary of the 1914 to 1918 conflict.
During the First World War, 1.2 million soldiers from undivided India served with the Allies, 74,000 of whom made the ultimate sacrifice.
Baroness Warsi said: “Our boys weren’t just Tommies; they were Tariqs and Tajinders too.
“A picture of a soldier in a turban is not what we immediately associate with the Great War. And yet so many men from so far away came to Europe to fight for the freedoms we enjoy today.”
Baroness Warsi visited the Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial in France, which honours 4,742 Indian soldiers on the Western Front who have no known grave.
In Belgium, she visited Hollebeke, where she laid a wreath at a memorial to Sikh soldiers. It was where Khudadad Khan – the first Indian recipient of the Victoria Cross – was based.
Baroness Warsi added: “I will make it my mission to ensure that the centenary is a chance for everyone to learn about the contribution of the Commonwealth soldiers. After all, our shared future is based on our shared past.”
