Bradford film highlights British soldiers' graves in Malakand

This peaceful place, in north west Pakistan, is overgrown and seemingly long abandoned. But nestled among the wild shrubs are crosses and old gravestones, bearing the names of more than 100 British soldiers.

This remote, weed-choked cemetery, in Malakand, was once the site of a bloody battle. Now the story of that conflict - and the forgotten graveyard it left behind - is told in a poignant film made by a Bradford man.

The siege of Malakand, from July 26 to August 2, 1897, marked the start of uprisings along British India’s North West Frontier (now Pakistan).

There was rising anger among Pashtun tribesmen, whose land had been bisected by the Durand Line, the 1,640 mile border drawn up between Afghanistan and British India. While the British Army was aware of pockets of unrest, they weren’t prepared for led the force of at least 10,000 Pashtun tribesmen who attacked the British garrison in Malakand.

The garrison held out for six days against the much larger Pashtun army until the siege was lifted by a British relief force - which included Second Lieutenant Winston Churchill. Churchill wrote of his experiences in his book The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War.

At least 2,000 Pakistani tribesmen and 233 British soldiers were killed in the conflict. Now Bradford historian and film-maker Imtiaz Sabir has travelled to Malakand to make a film about the forgotten graveyard.

There are more than 100 graves at the site (Image: Imtiaz Sabir)

“I heard about it from family stories of Churchill being at Chakdara Fort (built by the British Empire over the River Swat valley in Malakand) and the war between the Pashtuns and the British Army,” says Imtiaz. “Members of my family took part in this war. My father had mentioned to me that Winston Churchill was there and that there was a building called Churchill Picket.

“I wasn’t sure if all this was true until I visited the site. My family is from the areas of the Swat Valley and Malakand and are of the Yusufzai tribe, the main Pashtun tribe headed by Sartor Faqir, a Pashtun leader and freedom fighter famous in British history. Some of my family members were involved in the fighting in 1897. I have a sword purported to have come from the battle.”

Imtiaz with the sword which has been passed down in his family (Image: Imtiaz Sabir)

Imtiaz decided to make his film because “the siege was an important part of our shared history”. He has dedicated it to all those who died in the 1897 siege of Malakand.

“British Pashtuns of Pakistani heritage are a distinct identity in the UK, with a small number in Bradford,” he says.

In the film, Imtiaz reflects on the day a bugler, giving the officers’ mess call at Chakdara Fort, abruptly stopped halfway through. “He was presumably shot,” says Imtiaz. It was the start of a battle that raged for a week.

“The relevance of this area to British history is very important, but most people don’t know anything about it. It should be taught in UK schools,” says Imtiaz, an IT consultant who makes films about local history.

Grave of a British soldier, Sgt HE Costello, who died at Malakand (Image: Imtiaz Sabir)

Imtiaz’s moving film intersperses historic images of the battle with scenes of the graveyard as it looks today. Walking around the walled site, he comes across more and more overgrown graves marked by crosses, his voice cracking with emotion as he talks about them. “Nobody has been here for a long time,” he says. “Some are marked graves but many are unmarked and several have collapsed.”

Among the graves he discovers are that of Lieutenant Colonel J Lamb of the 24th Punjab Infantry, who was wounded on July 26 and died on August 23, and a large headstone on a raised grave, listing several British soldiers’ names, regiment numbers and dates of death.

Also buried here is Lieutenant William Browne-Clayton, a close friend of Churchill’s. “On September 30, 1897, William Browne-Clayton was killed, aged 24, close to Churchill on an expedition along India’s North West Frontier,” says Imtiaz.

“Churchill wrote to his mother: ‘I rarely detect genuine emotion in myself and I must rank it as a rare instant the fact that I cried when I saw poor Browne-Clayton literally cut to pieces on a stretcher’. When I returned to the UK I researched William Browne-Clayton and searched for descendants.”

Churchill and Browne-Clayton were part of the relief force sent to the Malakand siege. Browne-Clayton was buried in the cemetery, where his grave remains. Now Imtiaz has made contact with Ben Browne-Clayton and Nic Dunlop, both descendants of William Browne-Clayton, who are keen for the graves to be restored.

William Browne-Clayton, second right (Image: Nic Dunlop)

Imtiaz is liaising with the Commonwealth Heritage Forum on a planned restoration of the site. “I would like to have the soldiers identified, headstones made and fitted and the graveyard looked after,” he says.

“This is an important piece of British History that also enhances UK and Pakistan historical relationship. Our shared history goes back well beyond the 1960s - right back to the 1800s. Part of my history is in that graveyard. Visiting it had a profound effect on me. I was born in Bradford but my heritage is in Malakand. It was my heritage community involved in the battle against the British Army, but I want this graveyard to be restored. This is because of my British identity, while also having a heritage identity to the area.

“The tribes people looking after this site are very poor Pakistani Pashtoons who, for 127 years, have respected those soldiers’ graves. They have not damaged the crosses. That shows respect and tolerance and it makes me very proud of them.”

* Watch Forgotten British Soldiers Graveyard Pakistan at youtu.be/R_fnPo0SA-g?si=r6WhZSBlUY9twSsK