'My Pakistani grandads helped Britain win WW2'

A man whose two Pakistani grandads fought in World War Two, helping Britain win, has said he is "so proud" of them after learning more about his family history.

More than 2.5 million people living in the British Raj - as it was known at the time -volunteered to fight.

But Ibrahim Christi, 27, said he had not been taught about it at school, adding that the curriculum covered "mostly just Japan, Germany, the US and the UK".

He said it had been "eye-opening" and "very interesting" to learn about people from South Asia and Africa who also fought in the conflict.

The British Indian army was made up of volunteers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka and became the largest volunteer army in history.

A bronze sculpture, depicting five figures in uniform - representing the Gurkhas, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus who made up the British Indian Army - has gone on display in Oldham as part of a project to celebrate their contribution.

The project's being led by the charity, British Future, which said its research had suggested that less than half of the UK public knew that Indian soldiers served in World War Two.

A drop-in event at Gallery Oldham coincided with the Royal British Legion's Forgotten Army exhibition, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the war.

Ibrhaim's mother, Sharon Chisti, and her family moved to the UK and settled in Oldham in the 1980s.

Her grandfather fought for Britain in World War One, while her father, Mohammed Shariff, and her adopted father both served in World War Two.

She said she was "very happy" about the project in Oldham.

"I just hope that other people, after seeing this, can go into their history as well and find out what sort of role they did in their families.

"I was lucky because we were brought up from day one knowing our family was in the army."

Stuart Steele from the Royal British Legion said; "The British Empire, as it was, spanned the globe and that meant the people of the globe fought in a world war.

"So the British Indian Army of World War Two, pre-partition, was two and a half million strong and it's about telling that story of their contribution to a wider audience."

Ibrahim said: "We didn't really get taught in school about the other people who fought in the world wars, like the British Raj or Africa and stuff like that.

"So after researching and hearing my granddads speak about their time in the war it was actually very eye-opening for me because it was like oh I didn't know all of this."

British Future is encouraging more people to look into the history of their South Asian ancestors through the My Family Legacy website.

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