The Shot at Dawn memorial to the 306 executed soldiers of World War I at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England. (AFP)

London, Aug. 16: Indian soldiers who may have been shot for cowardice or desertion by their British commanding officers during World War I are likely to benefit from official pardons being granted under a review of policy being conducted by the ministry of defence in London.

The ministry yesterday announced a pardon for a 25-year-old British soldier, Private Harry Farr, executed during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 for cowardice in the face of the enemy.

This follows a long campaign by his family.

The British now have a different interpretation of “cowardice”, which takes into account the mental condition of very young soldiers who were shell shocked when ordered into battle.

At the time, soldiers found guilty of either cowardice or desertion faced being “shot at dawn” (SAD).

Now, following the review of the Farr case, the British are to pardon, at least, 306 British “and Commonwealth” soldiers who also faced summary execution for cowardice or desertion.

One name on this list is that of “Labourer Ahmed M.M.”, though not much else is known about him.

According to the ministry, “it is the government’s intention, after consultation with the governments of the other countries concerned, that the Statutory Pardon will cover the whole group of those executed during WW I under the Army Act 1881 and the Indian Army Act 1911”.

The statement added: “In addition to the United Kingdom, the other countries involved are the governments of Canada, New Zealand, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, Nigeria, Egypt and Ireland, as well as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma) and Afghanistan.”

A spokeswoman for the ministry of defence said: “We do not have any information in this country on the numbers or names (or details of particular cases) of those executed under the Indian Army Act. It is because there is a lack of full documentation and detail ninety years on that the government intends to issue a Statutory Pardon.”

In World War I, 1.5 million Indian troops fought for Britain between 1914-18, in Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Italy. When it ended, 113,743 Indians were reported dead, wounded or missing.

In World War II, 2.5 million Indian soldiers enlisted for Britain from 1939-45. They served in the North African campaign against the Germans, in Eritrea and Abyssinia against the Italians; in West Asia, Iran and Iraq; in the Far East; in Italy, where they took part in some of the bloodiest fighting at the siege of Monte Cassino and elsewhere. By the end of the war, 36,092 Indians were killed or missing, 64,350 were wounded and 79,489 taken prisoner.

Historian Patrick French told The Telegraph it was hard to conceive of the Sikhs or Rajputs, admired for their military valour, “running away from anything”. “But given the number of Indian soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars, it is likely some were shot.”

Another London-based historian, Kusoom Vadgama, who has conducted a huge amount of research into Indian soldiers who fought for the British, said: “I simply don’t know how many were executed. But I shall make it a priority to find out. These soldiers may not have been running away from battle. They may have been running away from the British who often treated them badly.”