Yavar Abbas, 105, and his quest to commemorate British Indian Army
The exquisite State Rooms in the Speaker's House, House of Commons was the venue of an extraordinary event on Monday, 9 February, 2026. 105-year-old Yavar Abbas was the cynosure of all eyes as he made the case for a memorial, under the Freedom Fountain initiative, in Cambridge to commemorate the four million volunteers of the United British Indian Army who fought in First and Second World Wars. Yavar Abbas, himself a WWII veteran, served as a combat cameraman on the frontlines of the Burma campaign. Born in October 1921 in the princely state of Charkhari, he graduated from Allahabad University with degrees in English and Persian literature. Although opposed to India's arbitrary inclusion in the WWII by the British, he quickly came around with the realisation that the bigger threat of fascism must he countered. He enlisted in the British Indian army. Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle "I saw a hell of a lot more action at first hand as war correspondent-combat cameraman than I woul...
