Reclaiming Remembrance: 'I thought it was a white event'published at 08:29 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2017
BBC News UK
Remembrance serves as a way to honour those who gave their lives for Britain in conflict, including during the two World Wars, but do all those who fought get the recognition they deserve?
It was a conversation with a patient researching the Commonwealth contribution to World War One that sparked Dr Irfan Malik's interest in finding out about his ancestors.
"Before I knew how much the Indians had contributed, growing up I thought it was very much a white war," he said.
Image source, IWMIt's a sentiment researchers at think tank British Future regularly come across in their efforts to highlight Muslims' participation in World War One and Two.
Growing up in Nottingham, Dr Malik was well aware of Britain's annual Remembrance Day celebrations but as a Muslim, he says he did not feel a personal connection to the events.
However, his chance conversation led to three years researching his ancestry, and the discovery that both of his great-grandfathers were Indian Muslim soldiers who fought in World War One alongside the British army.
