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 would have done if I had stayed as an infantry officer." Abbas sahab had a romantic career which included working with the BBC and as an independent film producer. He fell in love and married an Englishwoman who he met in Japan while she was an officer in the Women's Auxiliary Force. Unsettled by the Partition, he settled down in England making forays into journalism, film production, and literary endeavours.

Pippa Heylings, MP for South Cambridgeshire

Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge

The Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, along with Parliamentarians, diplomats, and descendants of Yavar Abbas's companions from British Indian Army had assembled to hear him and offer their support to the initiative. "The project as conceived makes it not just a memorial but a kind of shrine for meditation. And in our King's words a return to the indigenous wisdoms that once had us working in sympathy with the natural world. Our project enshrines these values of religious tolerance and mutual trust. My wish is that I will live long enough to see His Majesty lay the first wreath on our proposed monument," said Abbas to a thunderous applause.

The British Indian Army had Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, Gurkhas from across the subcontinent and it is no secret that the sacrifices made by the largest volunteer force in history has not got the recognition it deserves. Speakers including the host MPs Daniel Zeichner and Pippa Heylings gave details of the project and highlighted how it would help bring communities together. Also present was Lynda Atkins, National Vice Chair, Royal British Legion.     

Those who know Yavar Abbas do not stop gushing at the fact that he married Noor Zaheer, firebrand writer-activist, in 2020 just as he turned 100. She was at the event. "I could not have had the strength to stand here and talk to you had it not been for writer, activist and my beautiful wife Dr Noor Zaheer." 

Yavar Abbas with Noor Zaheer