By Hassan Belal Zaidi 

Dawn, November 11th, 2014

THIS sign at the Balaksar interchange on the M2 motorway near Chakwal is the only official acknowledgement of Dub village’s place in WWI history.—Photo by writer

The lawns of the British High Commission in Islamabad are not a place where one would expect to find a war memorial. But on Tuesday morning, a new plaque sits on the lawns of this outpost of Great Britain on Pakistani soil. On it are etched the names of three gallant, brave and selfless men: recipients of the Victoria Cross.

The plaque is dedicated to the memory of Khudadad Khan — the first South Asian and Muslim recipient of Britain’s highest award for gallantry — Mir Dast and Shahamad Khan, on the centenary of the first truly global war.

Know more: Khudadad Khan’s grandsons demand university in recognition of his services

At the reception, one gets a palpable sense of just how global the war was from the various uniforms that turned out to honour the memory of these veterans. Representatives of the US Army, the Royal Air Force, French Foreign Legion, the Royal Marines and the Highland Fusiliers, as well as other soldiers from Australia, Canada, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and many other countries which contributed fighting forces to the war effort between 1914 and 1918, are all in attendance.

Undivided India, which includes modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, contributed 1.2 million men to the war effort, nearly 75,000 of who never made it back.

No place in the entire subcontinent better captures this fighting spirit than the village of Dulmial. Located on the road to Kallar Kahar — a stone’s throw from the scenic Hindu temples at Katas — this little village gave 460 men to the war effort in 1914: nine of whom never made it home. No single village in the subcontinent has given more men to any war effort.

Just under an hour away, near the bustling town of Chakwal, lies another village. Most people know it simply as a signboard on the M2 motorway, but Dub village is unique. It is the ancestral home of Khudadad Khan, whose legend is known to nearly all residents of this hamlet.

Like his grandfather before him, Abdul Ghafoor Chaudhry is also a familiar face in these parts. Now settled in Mandi Bahauddin, where Khudadad Khan was allotted 50 acres of land in return for his services to the empire, Ghafoor has returned to the birthplace of his grandfather to introduce us to his two uncles; nephews of Khudadad Khan who are probably the last people alive with any memory of the most celebrated hero of their village.

Such was the cult surrounding Khudadad Khan that both his nephews, Haji Ahmed Khan and Subedar Ghulam Subhani, also enlisted in the military, as well as dozens of others from this extended family of military men. Most recently, Mr Subhani’s son, Lt Col Babar Nawaz, is carrying that spark forward.

The nephews regale us with tales of their uncle’s valour on the battlefield and his humble nature at home. The grandson chimes in, saying that the Victoria Cross has become the family’s ‘cross to bear’.

“It is a lightning rod for crazies. There are those who call us from unknown numbers and say ‘Khudadad Khan was a British stooge’. Others are just impassioned collectors who want to buy it from us. How can we explain to them the value this Victoria Cross holds for us?” he asks, rhetorically.

Ghafoor tells us how, because of the constant hounding, he had to move the medal, from Dub to his grandfather’s estate and final resting place in Mandi Bahauddin; then to a bank locker and, finally, to the UK, where it now resides with Khudadad Khan’s other grandson, Ali Nawaz.

He claims that before the state of Bahawalpur became a part of Pakistan, the nawab made a generous offer for the Victoria Cross, but was also turned down. “We won’t let anyone sell it as long as we’re alive,” concludes Ghafoor. His uncles nod in unison.

They walk with us to the site of the ancestral home where Khudadad Khan was born; show us a water reservoir that he helped tap and take us to the village mosque built in his memory. “Grandfather was a conscientious man. After his retirement, he would help people selflessly. God knows how many people he helped enlist in the military. Some of them even went on to become officers,” Ghafoor recalls, his eyes clouding over with a mixture of nostalgia and longing.

From Dub, we take a narrow stretch of tarmac that takes us, via Choa Saidan Shah, to the unremarkable village of Dulmial. The cannon, mounted on a platform next to a small pond in the middle of the settlement, is the most well-known landmark in the area.

It is recess time in the government schools nearby and schoolchildren mill about, running and playing noisily. Nearly every child we ask knows where the cannon is, but few can tell us why it is there. At the local government office, we meet Shaukat Iqbal Malik, a former councillor who guides us to the elusive memorial plaque that recounts the village’s contribution to the great war.

Not many visitors get to see the plaque, as it is now housed inside the building of the local girls school. The solemn, solitary red brick pillar stands tall in the glare of the midday sun. “Today, this village has a population of nearly 30,000. You can imagine that back in those days, 460 men probably meant all the men that were fit and of fighting age. There were nearly as many families in the village back then and most households sent two or more sons to the battlefront,” Malik says.

We leave the village with a greater sense of history than we entered with. In comparison with the undulating green plains of Chakwal, the carefully manicured and dew-soaked lawns of the high commission offer a stark contrast.

Back at the reception, UK High Commissioner Philip Barton announces that the plaque honouring the three Victoria Cross recipients will soon be moved to a spot near the National Monument at Shakarparian. This makes more sense than hiding it away on ‘foreign soil’. For the rest of the country, the memory of these three men is a much-needed reminder that sometimes, there are causes much bigger than oneself that one has to fight for. For the families of these all-but forgotten heroes, it is a long-awaited homecoming.