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Last Sunday I was invited to a memorial service for Hindu and Sikh soldiers who died in the conflict of the First World War. It was at the Chatri memorial, a remote spot in the beautiful Sussex countryside with those who died from their wounds were cremated. They were part of a volunteer Indian army of some 800,000, many of received the highest decorations for bravery. 'Chatri' literally means 'umbrella', and the domed canopy of the structure is a poignant reminder of the care and affection the wounded received from British doctors and nurses in the nearby Brighton's Royal Pavilion hospital. This year with a century of hindsight, we are all reflecting on the horrors of a war which it was hoped would end wars. Recent conflicts remind us that normal civilising constraints are the often the first casualties. We lose our focus, if in we forget the deliberate killing of civilian men, women and children. This week's Summit on sexual violence in conflict is a timely reminder that women and girls are often the principal sufferers in conflicts that bring out the worst in human behaviour. An article in the Sunday Times by the Foreign Secretary William Hague and actress Angelina Jolie reminds us that in the Bosnian conflict alone, some 50,000 women suffered rape and humiliation followed by a lifetime of isolation, exclusion and fear. And much the same is true about conflicts in central Africa and elsewhere today. The Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, acutely aware of the horror of war, taught that force should only be used as a last resort to prevent greater harm to the vulnerable, and, only when all other means for redressing that evil have been tried without success. He taught that force used, must be the minimum necessary and importantly, there should be no financial or territorial gains. Sikhs were reminded to give the same respect to enemy women as they would to their own mother, sister or daughter. Standing at the Chatri memorial, I reflected on the size of an edifice that would give adequate testimony to the suffering of the holy innocent. To me it underlined the importance of working to a world in which all wars particularly for economic gain, or softer sounding 'strategic interest', are finally consigned to the dustbin of history.