THIS slight to the British Indian army and to Commonwealth soldiers in general might not have been intended, but when the 75th anniversary of the ‘Victory in Europe’ Day (VE Day) was commemorated on May 8 this year, the British Legion and other organisations managed to give the impression that “plucky little England”, led by Winston Churchill, had managed to win the Second World War all on its own.
To make amends, there was a bit more effort to recognise the contribution of the British Indian army as the 75th anniversary of ‘Victory over Japan’ Day (VJ Day) was marked last Saturday (15).
There was a collective amnesia about the 2.5 million Indian soldiers who enlisted for Britain from 1939-1945. They served in the North African campaign against the Germans; in Eritrea and Abyssinia against the Italians; in West Asia, Iran and Iraq; in the Far East; in Italy, where they were involved in some of the bloodiest fighting at the siege of Monte Cassino and elsewhere.
By the end of the war, 36,092 Indians were killed or missing, 64,350 were wounded and 79,489 taken prisoner.
What the Graham Layton Trust, a charity which began in a modest way but now runs “19 hospitals and 58 clinics” in Pakistan, has done is focus on the story of one man who served as a medic in Burma with the British Indian Army from 1940- 1945 – Mazhar ul-Haque Malik.
For the benefit of Eastern Eye readers, his story has been unravelled by his son, the actor Art Malik. He first came to prominence playing the character of Hari Kumar in 1984 in Granada Television’s The Jewel in the Crown, based on the Raj Quartet novels by Paul Scott.
Mazhar was born in 1920, when the British were still firmly in charge of India. The family base was in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, but Mazhar’s father, a policeman who had agreed to “take the King’s shilling”, could not afford to send his son to Patna Medical College, which Mazhar wanted to do.
So Mazhar joined the British Indian army because this guaranteed his college fees would be paid by his employers – assuming, of course, he survived.
After graduating from Patna Medical College, Mazhar migrated to the newly created state of Pakistan but found opportunities for doctors were limited. So in 1953, he decided to travel to London where he managed to get a job with Moorfields Eye Hospital. Two years later, he was joined in London by his wife, Zaibunisa, and his four sons – a daughter would be born in London in 1956.
Athar ul-Haque Malik, who was born in Bahawalpur in Pakistan on November 13, 1952 – he would later shorten his name to “Art” for professional reasons – was three at the time. At the age of 10, Athar and his brothers were sent to a Pakistani boarding school in Quetta.
It is ironic, perhaps, that Hari Kumar in The Jewel in the Crown, was depicted as not entirely at home in India after an English public school education at the mythical “Chillingbrough” school. Nor could he speak “Indian”.
Recognising that he would not make consultant in Britain, Mazhar went to Saudi Arabia in 1970 and eventually retired to Pakistan in the mid-1980s. Here, he met Graham Layton and offered him his services.
Layton, who has also served in Burma but with the Royal Engineers, settled in Pakistan where he set up a very successful construction business. Wanting to “put something back” into his spiritual home, he set up a charity – the Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust – with a like-minded Pakistani friend. To raise funds in pound sterling which would go a long way in Pakistan, he established a UK arm, the Graham Layton Trust, where Art is today a trustee.
It is only after he joined the Trust that Art discovered “Abba’s” connection with the charity – for years and years, his father had been doing good by stealth. Mazhar never boasted about his charitable work. In fact, Art reveals that his father maintained a lifelong silence about his days in India, Hindi-Muslim relations – he was once given shelter by Hindu friends during communal clashes – or about Partition.
“He never expressed any opinions about it,” says Art. “I do believe that generation was (psychologically) very damaged. During the Raj, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. They felt they would always be second-class citizens. Whatever the anger and resentment or indignation, I think he parked it to the side into a box and probably marked it, ‘Do not open.’”
During the war, “he was at the front and went all the way down to Rangoon (now Yangon). He came to understand British people a little bit more because that was the first time he actually had an interaction with them.”
Later in England, his father became a fervent believer in the NHS, though he personally had hit a glass ceiling as registrar. “He was a great advocate of the NHS. He thought it was the best thing ever and couldn’t understand when no one else duplicated it.”
When Art went to Pakistan to make a documentary film about the Graham Layton Trust, he would be approached by people whose lives had been transformed by his father’s generosity.
Little by little, Art is discovering his father’s hidden history. Mazhar was proud all his children had done well, but he was understated about Art’s remarkable rise to national prominence in TV. He told his son on one occasion: “‘Ah yes, Jewel in the Crown. A lot of people are liking it.’ That was it. In there was a compliment.”
His father’s generation “had to confront the Britain which was very much white. It made no bones about the fact that it was Anglo Saxon, and a Christian country. And these are things that found their way through the generations.
“Now there are British people who have Asian heritage, who are very, very comfortable being British – they don’t see colour, they don’t even see gender.
“And I think all that is moving in the right direction.”
Art is delighted that while he starred in a drama about the British in India, BBC TV is now showing A Suitable Boy – about Indians in India. Vikram Seth’s novel was published in 1993.
He recalls: “I remember reading A Suitable Boy and thinking this makes a great, great TV series, and being told by everybody, ‘Where are the Europeans? Where is our voice?’ I thought, ‘Your voice? What are you talking about? Your voice is everywhere.’ I think (the director) Mira Nair has done a fantastic job.”
PAKISTAN’S army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday (7) rejected Delhi’s allegation that his military received active support from longtime ally China in its conflict with India in May.
The Indian Army’s deputy chief, Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, said last week that China gave Islamabad “live inputs” on key Indian positions.
Singh did not elaborate on how India knew about the live inputs from China.
Regarding the possibility of China providing satellite imagery or other real-time intelligence, India’s chief of defence staff had said such imagery was commercially available and could have been procured from China or elsewhere.
The “insinuations regarding external support” are “irresponsible and factually incorrect”, Munir said in an address to graduating officers of the national security and war course in Islamabad, according to an army statement.
Pakistani officials have previously dismissed allegations of receiving active support from China in the conflict.
Beijing and Islamabad have longstanding close relations, with billions of dollars of Chinese investment in the country’s energy and infrastructure.
India’s relationship with China meanwhile was strained after a 2020 border clash that sparked a four-year military standoff, but tensions began to ease after the countries reached a pact to step back in October.
India and Pakistan used missiles, drones and artillery fire during the four days of fighting in May – their worst in decades – triggered by an attack in April on tourists in Indian Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack in April.
Singh also added that Turkey provided key support to Pakistan during the fighting, equipping it with Bayraktar and “numerous other” drones, as well as “trained individuals”.
Ankara has strong ties with Islamabad, and had expressed solidarity with it during the clash, prompting Indians to boycott everything from Turkish coffee to holidays in the country.
Turkey’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the allegations.
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Christine Kangaloo awards Narendra Modi with the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago last Friday (4)
INDIA’S prime minister, Narendra Modi met Argentine president Javier Milei in Buenos Aires last Saturday (5), urging the expansion of New Delhi’s preferential trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc.
The bilateral talks with Milei were the latest in Modi’s whistle-stop diplomatic tour culminating in the summit of Brics emerging economies which began last Sunday (6) in Brazil.
Diplomats from both countries at the meeting, which included a lunch, decided to “deepen bilateral relations and commercial ties,” according to a statement from the Argentine presidency.
John Dramani Mahama welcomes Modi on his arrival in Accra last Wednesday (2)
India’s foreign ministry diplomat, Periasamy Kumaran, told reporters Modi “requested Argentina’s support in expanding the India-Mercosur preferential trade agreement.” The Mercosur regional trade bloc, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, is seeking closer ties with Asian economies in the face of Trump’s global trade war.
“The two leaders discussed the necessity of diversifying and expanding bilateral trade” in sectors including defence, technology and health, said Kumaran.
They also touched upon cooperation in the energy sector, including gas and petrol, as well as lithium, a key mineral for the clean energy transition. Argentina is the world’s fifth largest producer of lithium, according to the US Geological Survey.
“Excellent meeting with president Javier Milei of Argentina,” Modi wrote on X of the leaders’ second bilateral talks.
“We have covered significant ground in our bilateral relations, but we agree that the journey ahead is even more promising!”
Modi last week visited Trinidad and Tobago which last Friday (4) bestowed its highest honour as the Indian prime minister seeks to strengthen New Delhi’s ties with the Caribbean and Latin America.
More than a third of the population in the country is of Indian descent.
President Christine Carla Kangaloo gave him the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago at a ceremony at president’s House in St Ann’s, just outside the capital Port of Spain – the first time a foreign leader was so honoured.
“This honour is a symbol of the deep and eternal friendship between our two countries,” Modi said, according to an official translation. Relations between India and Trinidad and Tobago date back to 1845, when indentured Indian labourers first arrived to work on sugar and cocoa plantations under British colonial rule, following the end of slavery.
Between 1845 and 1917, more than 140,000 labourers settled in the Caribbean nation. The Indian community is now the country’s largest ethnic group, at 35.4 per cent of the population of 1.4 million.
Modi described Kangaloo and prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar “the biggest brand ambassadors of this community.” “India and Trinidad & Tobago rose from the shadows of colonial rule to write our destiny of progress. Our nations stand tall as proud democracies and pillars of strength in the modern world,” Modi wrote on X.
“It’s high time we all work together to give the Global South its rightful seat at the high table.”
Modi last Thursday (3) visited Ghana, in a first by an Indian leader in three decades.
He outlined plans for deeper ties between India and Africa, as New Delhi increasingly vies for a stronger economic presence on the continent along with China and Russia.
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Modi and China’s premier Li Qiang at the Brics summit last Sunday (6)
In a speech to Ghana’s parliament, Modi highlighted a major rail project that opened in the west African nation last year, financed by the India Export-Import Bank.
He also underlined his country’s expanding diplomatic development and business footprint in Africa.
“Over 200 projects across the continent enhance connectivity, infrastructure and Industrial capacity,” Modi said. On the political front he welcomed “the establishment of Ghana-India Parliamentary Friendship Society in your parliament”.
In a meeting last Wednesday (2), Modi and Ghanaian president John Mahama agreed to deepen security and mining ties.
The Indian prime minister also last Thursday called for a greater global diplomatic role for both his country and Africa, warning that “the world order created after the Second World War is changing fast”.
A FRESH parliamentary initiative to establish a dedicated Sikh regiment within the British Army has gained momentum in the House of Lords, with defence minister Lord Coaker expressing willingness to engage in further discussions about the long-debated proposal.
The issue was raised in the House of Lords on Monday (7) by Labour peer Lord Sahota, who asked whether there had been any progress on long-standing calls for a Sikh regiment.
"Given the loyalty of Sikh soldiers in both world wars, there has been talk of having a Sikh regiment in the British Army for a number of years," Lord Sahota said.
Minister of state at Ministry of Defence, Lord Coaker, responded positively, saying he was "quite happy to meet him to see what more we can do to recognise the contribution of soldiers such as Sikhs, and those of many other faiths as well."
He also referenced the upcoming VJ Day commemorations on August 15, noting it would be an appropriate time to reflect on wartime sacrifices, particularly those of Sikhs worldwide.
While no firm commitment was made to establish a regiment, the exchange represents the most encouraging governmental response to the proposal in recent years.
Sikhs have served in the British Army since the mid-1800s and became renowned for their martial traditions. During the First World War, over 100,000 Sikhs served in France, East Africa, and Gallipoli.
Despite being less than two per cent of British India's population, they comprised roughly 20 per cent of the Indian contingent. In the Second World War, more than 300,000 Sikhs participated in campaigns across North Africa, Italy, and Southeast Asia.
The proposal for a British Sikh regiment has been raised repeatedly in Parliament. In 2007, plans were dropped after the Commission for Racial Equality expressed concerns about potential segregation.
The debate was revived in 2015 when former defence secretary Nicholas Soames urged the government to overcome "political correctness" and honour Sikh military service.
Sikh community leaders have consistently argued they could easily recruit enough volunteers for a regiment, pointing to precedents such as the Scots, Welsh, and Irish Guards, and the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
Currently, around 160 Sikhs serve in the British Army. The Defence Sikh Network continues to celebrate Sikh military traditions and encourage recruitment from the community.
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Heat can also damage everyday items like sunglasses, suncream and vape devices
Experts urge motorists to avoid leaving certain items in vehicles during upcoming heatwave
Temperatures expected to rise above 30°C across large parts of the UK
Contraceptives and common medications can lose effectiveness in high heat
Heat can also damage everyday items like sunglasses, suncream and vape devices
Drivers urged to act as UK braces for extended heatwave
Drivers across the UK are being urged to remove a range of everyday items from their cars ahead of a predicted heatwave, with experts warning that the rising temperatures could pose both safety and health risks.
The Met Office has forecast a prolonged spell of hot weather, with temperatures expected to soar into the low 30s on Thursday and Friday. Much of the UK is likely to hit its regional heatwave threshold by the weekend, with this episode potentially affecting a wider area and lasting longer than previous hot spells.
While motorists are often aware of the dangers of leaving items like electronics or water bottles in hot vehicles, motoring specialists have highlighted a less commonly known risk — heat damage to contraception and medication.
Heat can reduce effectiveness of contraceptives
Experts from car dealership group Dick Lovett have warned that items such as birth control pills and condoms should not be left inside cars during hot weather. The interior of a vehicle can act like a greenhouse, with temperatures increasing by up to 50% in just an hour, even when the car is parked in the shade.
Most hormonal contraceptives, including the pill, need to be stored at temperatures between 20-25°C to remain effective. Exposure to extreme heat can degrade the active ingredients, reducing their ability to prevent pregnancy.
Similarly, condoms can be weakened by high temperatures, as heat may damage the latex or cause it to dry out, increasing the risk of breakage during use.
Drivers who store spare contraceptives in their glove box or handbag for emergencies are advised to remove them during heatwaves and follow the storage guidelines provided on the packaging.
Medicines and other everyday items also at risk
Alongside contraceptives, many commonly used medicines are also vulnerable to heat damage. Items such as inhalers, insulin, antibiotics, and other prescription medications can lose potency if stored in high temperatures for too long.
To prevent any potential health complications, drivers should remove all medication from their vehicles during hot weather and keep them in cool, temperature-controlled environments.
Other items to avoid leaving in cars during a heatwave include:
Suncream (can degrade or leak)
Vape devices (pose fire risk)
Sunglasses (can warp or become brittle)
Fizzy drinks (risk of explosion or container damage)
By taking a few simple precautions, motorists can reduce health and safety risks and avoid damage to personal belongings during the UK’s latest summer heatwave.
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The Royal Mail logo is seen on the side of a van as the UK government clear a 3.57 billion pound takeover offer by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in London, December 16, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)
MEDIA regulator Ofcom has set new minimum delivery standards for Royal Mail and revised existing targets in an effort to reduce delays. It also announced a review into pricing and affordability, amid concerns over rising stamp prices.
Royal Mail, which has faced fines of around $20 million over the past two years for not meeting delivery targets, is currently trying to modernise operations and focus more on parcel deliveries.
“Urgent reform is needed for the universal service to survive,” Ofcom said in a statement. The regulator said the revised delivery goals could help Royal Mail save up to £425 million ($578.3 million).
Under the new rules, Royal Mail must ensure that 99 per cent of mail is delivered no more than two days late. Ofcom has also adjusted the targets for next-day and three-day deliveries. The target for First Class mail will now be 90 per cent delivered the next day, down from 93 per cent. For Second Class mail, the target has been lowered from 98.5 per cent to 95 per cent within three days.
From July 28, Royal Mail will be permitted to deliver Second Class letters on alternate weekdays, while still aiming to meet the three-working-day delivery target, Ofcom said.
“Our research suggests that affordability and reliability are more important to people than speed of delivery, but they value having a next-day service available for when they need to send the occasional urgent item,” the regulator said.
Ofcom said it would launch a consultation on its pricing and affordability review next year.
In response to the announcement, Martin Seidenberg, Group CEO of Royal Mail’s parent company International Distribution Services, said the company welcomed the new measures.
“It is good news for customers across the UK as it supports the delivery of a reliable, efficient and financially sustainable universal service,” he said in a statement.