Sikh group goes on trail of Ypres war heritage

HOSHIARPUR: Call it following the heritage trail or the Lion's. On Saturday, 45 Sikhs will leave from England for France for "a truly Sikh experience." A day-long battlefield tour, first of its kind, will take them to the Battlefields of Neuve Chapelle and Ypres where the Sikh Regiment was to play a crucial role during WWI in 1915. Within 20 days of the declaration of the First World War, Sikh troops were dispatched to Europe as part of the Indian expeditionary force and many Sikhs laid down their livesin the war.This is the first Sikh 'officially' organised major tour to these battlefields, says Harbinder Singh, director of Maharaja DuleepSingh Centenary Trust (MDSCT). The tour is being conducted byAnglo Sikh Heritage Trail, a project that was set up in 2004 under the MDSCT, adds Singh. The project is supported by the English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, says Singh. A group of Dutch Sikhs are expected to link up with the tour in France, said Singh. One particular feature of this tour is that it is being organised in conjunction with a professional company Anglia Battlefield tours and would consist of expert guides. In preparation for this, they have been researching the role of the Sikh troops, who were part of the 'Jullundur Brigade' that fought in these battles. Clare Gorst, a non-British-Asian member of the group, termed the initiative as a beginning in re-writing history that has been ignored. "Our children and grandchildren of Asian and British origin sit alongside each other in British schools with no concept that their grandfathers and great grandfathers fought alongside each other in the battlefields of the two World Wars."