LONDON – UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday said thatthe Jallianwala Bagh tragedy was a shameful scar on British Indian history.
Facing increasing pressure to apologise on behalf of UK for the tragedy inwhich thousands of innocent and unarmed people were mercilessly shot deadby General Reginald Dyer 100 years ago – on April 13 of 1919, May said thatit was an extremely unfortunate incident.
“We deeply regret the tragedy and the suffering it caused,” she said.
A day earlier, on Tuesday, the UK’s Foreign Office minister Mark Field hadsaid that while past shameful incidents have to be marked in red, issuingrepeated apologies for events in Britain’s colonial past could come withfinancial implications.
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He had stressed at the time that relations with India must be based oncurrent dynamics and not be influenced by past incidents even if they wereshameful.
And the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy was not just shameful but an outrightmassacre in which hundreds were killed and thousands were injured. Evenafter 100 years since it took place, the tragedy evokes emotionalsentiments from Indians all around the world.
