Nameless soldiers of World War I forgotten

International The News: Nameless soldiers of World War I forgotten

“To the glory of God and in memory of our comrades of the Baluch Infantry Group who laid down their lives in the Great War 1914-1918.”

This is the engraving on a prominent landmark in Karachi, which reveals a small and completely forgotten history of the city. This commemoration is for the officers and soldiers of the Baloch Regiment which fought in World War I as part of the British Army.

When we think of Karachi today, a picture of a bustling, disorganised, unplanned and polluted city comes into mind with its huge populace bursting at its seams. Many of us travel the roads of Karachi without having time to look at the history strewn around us. For many who spend their lives travelling the city to and from work, small historical impressions of the glory that was hardly make an impression and they have no idea that their city, which is riddled with serious problems like terrorism, crime, target killings, political rioting, gang wars, loadshedding and water shortage, has a soul and a personality – which it is fast losing.

But Karachi has a trove of historical treasure, you just have to stop and listen to the silhouettes of yesterday whispering their stories to you. And if you listen hard enough, you will hear the hundreds of soldiers coming and going from Karachi to fight in the First World War. There are a few reminders of the Indian soldiers who fought for the British army in Pakistan; one of these memorials is the memorial column situated behind Frere Hall in Karachi. This column commemorates Indian soldiers who laid their lives in this war for their British rulers.

A brief history of the WWI
The First World War began in the summer of 1914 and was fought for almost four years ending in November of 1918 and was fought mainly in Europe between the ‘great powers’ of the time, although battles were also fought in Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, China and off the coast of South and North America.

At that time it was not called the World War I since the world hadn’t engaged it the Second World War yet. At that time it was called the Great War, The War in Europe or The World War.

This war was triggered by the assassination of Austria-Hungary heir to throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. Even though this war was among the European countries, soldiers were also recruited from the colonies of the participants, like India.

Tribute to the fallen
The commemoration column in Karachi hails the officers and soldiers of the Baloch Infantry group who gave their lives in this war. The Indian unit that that fought under the British rule in this war the 10th Baloch Regiment which comprised of soldiers from the 124th Duchess of Connaught’s Own Balochistan Infantry, the 126th Balochistan Infantry, the 127th Queen Mary’s Own Baloch Light Infantry, the 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Balochis, and the 130th King George’s Own Balochis Jacobs Rifles respectively. This regiment fought in the First World War and earned many awards for courage. To pay tribute to the bravery of the officers, JCOs and men of the 10th Baloch Regiment who died in the battle the British Government erected a monument in the gardens of Frere Hall in Karachi.

Although the names of the soldiers are not mentioned, the number of the nameless soldiers can be seen in the Urdu and English engravings on the stone column. The engravings tell you the number of British and Indian officers, Indian other ranks and followers who died in the First World War, with the ‘Indian other ranks’ personnel running into the hundreds.

There is a grave yard in Pakistan which has graves of soldiers who fought in both the world wars but we will never know anything about who they were, about their families, their loved ones. The least we can do is revisit this part of history of those of our people who laid down their lives for a war that wasn’t theirs so many years ago.