Naz Shah, MP for Bradford West, spoke at Bradford’s Cartwright Hall at a British Future event to explore how greater understanding of the First World War contribution from the Indian Army’s Muslim soldiers could help integration in Bradford and Britain today.
Joining her on the panel was Paul Davies from the Yorkshire Regiment, Ian Day from Bradford Council and Leeds Imam Qari Asim. The event also marked the launch of a new film in which Muslim and non-Muslim youth in Bradford explored this shared history. The sixth-formers had interviewed descendants of soldiers from modern-day India and Pakistan who fought for Britain in the First World War and learned about their contribution to the British war effort of 1914-18, before working with local rapper Blazer Boccle to produce lyrics about British identity and how it is shaped by this shared WW1 history.
