LONDON (Diya TV) — Two weeks ahead of the 106th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Conservative MP Bob Blackman has urged the British government to officially apologize to Indians for the 1919 atrocity. Addressing the House of Commons, Blackman called the massacre a “stain on the British Empire” and asked the government to own up to its misdeed.
“Families came on April 13, 1919, very peacefully to Jallianwala Bagh to bask in the sun, to spend an hour or two with the family,” Blackman added. “General Dyer, representing the British Army, marched his men in and ordered his men to shoot these innocent people until the bullets ran out. “He added that 1,500 people were killed and 1,200 people were injured in the massacre.
Blackman insisted that there must be a formal apology, particularly as the anniversary draws near during a parliamentary recess. He said, “Could we have a statement from the government acknowledging what happened and giving a formal apology to the people of India?
In reply, Commons Leader Lucy Powell recognized the seriousness of the incident, referring to it as “one of the most notorious and shameful episodes in the history of British colonialism.” She promised Blackman that she would pass on his request to Foreign Office ministers and hinted at the potential for a government statement before the anniversary.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, or Amritsar massacre, took place on April 13, 1919, when British soldiers led by General Reginald Dyer fired on a peaceful assembly in Amritsar, Punjab. The British government has already shown regret over the event. In 2019, then-Prime Minister Theresa May called the massacre a “shameful scar” on British-Indian history but did not go so far as to make a formal apology.
