Days before the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the UK Prime Minister Theresa May has expressed regret over the carnage meted out by the British troops to an innocuous crowd of people gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in 1919.
AFP: British Prime Minister Theresa May in British Parliament today expressed regret for #JallianwalaBaghMassacre; said, “We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused.” pic.twitter.com/F5CWvDfObg
— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2019
Addressing the British parliament, May expressed her anguish over the incident. “We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused,” May said. However, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of opposition in the British parliament demanded a full and unequivocal apology for the tragedy.
In her statement, May said, “Jallianwala Bagh tragedy of 1919 is a despicable scar on the British Indian history. As Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth II) pointed out before visiting Jallianwala Bagh in 1997, it is an upsetting example of our past history with India.”
Considered as one of the worst political crimes of the twentieth century, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13 April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the order of Colonel Reginald Dyer opened fire into an unarmed crowd of Indians, who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab for marking the celebrations of Baisakhi. Almost 2000 innocent people had perished in the onslaught.
