They were all Indian soldiers then

@shivan Agreed pakistanis will try to glorify themselves at any minute chance they get.

@shivan You Indians will never miss a chance! They were soldiers at the time regardless of the land

Honors Pakistan's WW1 heroes is biased. These men went from united India.

@VGP Yes and Indians will never miss a chance to think negative

How cum Pakistan's heroes? Pakistan is a creation for future destabilisation using stupid rhetorics. Otherwise it could have been too powerful and resourceful a nation for well being vis dominance of west. See what US and China are doing. Anybody has any idea how much humanity and the subcontinent suffered as a result of creation of this rogue state?

@shivan as a resident of Dulmial, I can tell you that they were proud to call themselves Pakistani, having left India.

@shivan correction they were citizen of British India & were not citizens of contemporary India.

Let us try to preserve history of Dulmial and establish a museum there worthy of the place and its people as a souce of inspiration now and in future. Let few think of various labels - Muslims, Pakistanis, Indians, South Asians, British colonial soldiers, WW II and all that sort ?

My uncle 100 is also a former britain soldier but no any govt help him. He lost all his documents in last flood in sindh. He got no pension or relief 4m british.

Most of the Victoria crosses won by Asian soldiers were by Muslim soldiers and a few Sikhs. Britain has much to be great full to Pakistan for saving it in WW1 and WW 2

Amazing and sad at the same time, for these brave men who selflessly sacrificed for a power that gave them little in return. "Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. " Dylan Thomas

@shivan, They were not INDIAN soldiers of India but soldiers of BRITISH INDIA.

My father fought WW2 when he was in british navy n joined with other 9 muslims pakistan navy once pakistan came into being.unfortunately all our forces have also become political n he was never honored for all his work he did for his country.Alhamdolillah he still lives to tell his grand childrens the real stories of the war.long live the heros who protect our country so that others can have a peaceful sleep.

@Zak I know you are suffering from lots of hate and cannot see the world through a fair and non-communal eye. Religion have nothing to do with Bravery. For your information 153 British Indian Army soldiers got Victoria cross for WW1 and WW2 , 7 were muslims, 31 were Hindus, 5 were Sikhs, 110 were British Christians. For reference please either visit Wikipedia or British defense site.

My grandfather served in the British Indian Army on the Rangoon front in World War 2 as an engineer. He's been dead a couple of decades and his medals and uniform were stolen in the 80s. Is there any organization either in Britain or Pakistan that can help confirm his service and rank or issue a certificate or replica medals?

@SAJID JAVED No one is stopping India for hailing for them.

@shivan, bro lets leave and go back to India as we are not welcome here, no one understands our feelings

During First World War did the soldiers from present day Pakistan on average fight well or like the 1971s surrendered after the first shots ?

Just to add to the world war stories , my great grand and one of his cousins joined the British indian army, before the WW2 and they served in all the fronts in middle east and Africa, my great dad survived but his cousin got killed in some front fighting Germans, thousands of Indians lost their lives , the regular soldiers were compensated and continued to receive pension and health care by the Pakistan army after 1947. Some young men who were recruited for the WW2 and fought for 4-5 years and survived , when they returned to India in late 46-47, they were all disbanded and just sent home where ever their home towns were. I had seen a few of these brave men who couldn't find any jobs and had no pension lived a pathetic life on begging and telling stories of their experiences in far away countries. It was sad to see these abandoned soldiers by the British Raj.

@Neelofur tariq . Every soldier has a story. He may be passing his experiences to his children now but the children may not pass it to their children. Before these memories become faded lost stories, there is a need to get them documented and recorded. It doesn't have to be professional writing rather can be an ordinary words. Let your father speak and ask your children to write or make a video. Just don't lose him.

What a pity! Can't cut the relationship and stand up on your own. There is nothing to be proud in that past unless you like to be a slave.

stop telling lies to own people.. there was no Pakistan during world war's

@Atif Ali but not pakistani for sure

@shivan they were from British Indian Army

Britain will do everything to please pakistanis

Commonwealth soldiers will never forget their sacrifice, service, honour and courage. "They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them." Much respect.

Its really touching to know those poor men who fought in foreign lands for a foreign master and a foreign cause. It was the curse of poverty in the sub- continent which motivated those young men to join the Army. Unfortunately the situation has not changed much in India & Pakistan the only difference being now the young men have their own country which they can claim to be fighting for.

My great grandfather left North Punjab and joined British army in Burma in the 19th century. My grandmother's two uncles died in the Battle of Singapore by Japanese bombers. For me this is the peak of colonial "slavery": fight and die for your foreign racist occupiers.

My father was a soldier of British India army during the WWII. He fought in Burma and Malaya. My uncle and grandfather were prisoners of Japanese for more than 2 years.

Pakistan the word means "Punjab, Afghania (old name of KPK) , Kashmir, Sindh and balochisTAN".... it was first mentioned in a journal "Now or Never" published in London by Ch Rehmat Ali in 1930's decade....these soldiers we are talking about were mostly from Punjab and KPK, thus if one is from any of the five regions, he is Pakistani, people living here had been Punjabis, Sindhis, Pushtuns, Kashmiris and Baloch since thousands of years, and these ethnicities represent the word Pakistan which represents the five regions I mentioned...thus all the soldiers mentioned above were Pakistanis.

@Shah If the Japanese had won, you would then have known what real slavery means. Be glad that your relations helped defeat the Japanese whose racist ideology was so evil and treatment of defeated people so brutal that Asian leaders like Ho Chi Minh, Mao Tse Tung and Sukarno put their fight for indendence from colonial powers on hold and focussed all their energies on defeating the Japanese.

@Shah I work as Administrator of an NGO , supported by a Charitable organisation in UK , and it is our job to send financial grants to destitute soldiers of the Indian armed forces who fought for Britain in WW II. As someone who has been associated with welfare of the ex-servicemen of the Crown for over a decade let me place some facts on line for benefit of those who are not aware of them. Those soldiers who had put in ten years of service in the Indian Army or continued after rejoining Pakistan Army become entitled to a pension, which they ( or their widows) are still getting. Those who did not put in ten years qualifying service and were demobbed at the end of the War were given a war service gratuity . All recipients of Gallantry awards were given titles or lands. Many were given Honorary commissions . After the War , under the terms of independence , all responsibility for payment of pensions/dues were passed on to the Government of Pakistan , and where eligible it is still being paid. Our NGO , which gets no funds from British Government , gets a substantial grant from charitable organisations , and raised by British War Veterans who had served in the Commonwealth. They have no obligation to remeber and financially help their comrades This is quite remarkable, Whether these soldiers fought for the Raj or their homeland is debatable. They fought for 'their' country and courage in battle is not bound by territorial limits. Any of you who knows of a WW II Veteran ( or his widow ) , still living , please send me an email with full details of his service. He /She must have documentary evidence to prove that the person had served the British Crown. I will make best endeavor to help them . Varris

Pakistan was in existence during the World Wars? Wow. It seems you guys have taken the bin Qasim story seriously. Well done, Sirs.

@VGP Glad we all share something in common... WAKE UP MY FRIEND...

India has by far the largest populations of trolls proportionate to their chunk of population. They never miss a chance. Take for example this.. trying to hijack what has never been their. I was born in Chakwal. Our fore fathers have always served in the military. The first person to win Victria Cross in India was Malik Khudadad Khan from Dulmial. We are proud of our heritage. And we also proudly chose to call ourselves Pakistanis. Pakistan is what used to be northern India. It has the Indus river and the Indus valley civilization in it. Which is why India is called India.. Try taking that from us and we will give you the lesson we gave to Natzies and Japanese.. And please take care of the rape epidemic in your remaining bit of india.. Sometimes it is good not to be number one in the world..

Dear Indians, Please take your Heros somewhere, and stop mocking us. You guys don't leave a chance to mock us Do you ? If we are not educated, backward then at least you behave like Educated & Bright people. Duh!

@aamed This is what teaching of religion of peace.

@Kamal Pasha India ruled by British, but still India.

LOL in which word war did the Pakistani soldiers fight ?

Love the stories of British India.

@Saad LOL Why don't you start from Ghori ? will be more convenient.

@taemoor LOL right now your own terrorists are giving you a lesson of your life. Calm down and more importantly duck if the drone is overhead.

@A-Human! Unfortunately. We do not like to take advice from a failed state, just like the rest of the world including your prime donation giver US of A.

Amazing.

In the year 1914 the word Pakistan NOT even invented let alone as Country. Mis-representation of History. As usual Pakistani School corriculums are for the History books, lost sense of identity.

@Abdul A failed state can not have any agreement of > $ 45 billion with China as India also has recently signed one.

There was no Pakistan then, any reference to Pakistan must be after 14 Aug, 1947. Till 13Th Aug 1947, there was no Pakistan.

@qwe123kids there was no Republic of India during British days either. In fact, indian subcontinent was never one unit but many independent states.

I don't think there is anything to fight or to be proud of here for Indians and Pakistanis. These soldiers were "British" Soldiers of "Indian" origin. They were not fighting for mother India but for British Crown. A cat fight for these soldiers between Indians and Pakistanis is like to prove whose forefathers were better slave of British. The patriotic Indians , Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, were fighting against British under Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's force Azad Hind Force with help from Japanese forces. May be we have a loss of our sense of right history here or may be anything that British still throw our way is still considered god gifted.

@M. Emad very well said

@Kamal Pasha They were not certainly soldiers of British-Pakistan. Or were they!

Anyways, what they did, was for Money and it has nothing to do with any religion. Certainly, it was not "Jihad -fee- Sabeelillah". By the way, there is a difference in loving a state and worshiping a state.

For all those Indians that express their anti-Pakistan sentiment consistently on Dawn.com news articles, you're wasting your time. Pakistani's don't care about you. They really don't. You can troll, be obnoxious, point out you biases, but we'll still be better than you. The fact that most of you have nothing positive to say, spend a large amount of your time posting on a Pakistani news website, and still can't get your sentences in order doesn't bode well for you. We love Pakistan, we're glad it broke off from India, and we'd like nothing to do with. So, please, go comment on some rape story on ndtv.com.

This old man was saluting English colonial occupier while my grand father died during an attack on British army post at Kohat Pahstoonkhwa. I think my grand father deserve the highest level of respect. I would suggest that Indian, Pakistani, Bangladesh people should come together to collectively honour the real heroes who fought Colonial occupiers. This will leave a lesson for future generation that the real heroes are those who fought against occupation forces not those who served the occupiers.

@Syed Hussain Akbari Difference being they will materialise in India. btw what has happened to the previous MOUs in Pakistan such as Iran Pakistan pipeline & Skardu/Katzarah dam project ?

@LostMedals Army has an Ex-army personnel organization. The staff is retired people and they work for the welfare of ex-army and their families.