Amritsar: Sadiq Khan calls on Government to apologise for mass killing of Sikhs by colonial troops

[Abdullah719]

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called on the British government on Wednesday to make a formal apology for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in which nearly 400 Sikhs were shot dead by British Indian army soldiers.

During a visit to the Golden Temple at Amritsar in northern India, the most important pilgrimage site of Sikhism, Khan called the massacre one of the most horrific events in Indian history.

On Sunday 13 April 1919, some 50 soldiers began shooting at unarmed civilians who were taking part in a peaceful protest against oppressive laws enforced in the Punjab by British colonial authorities.

At least 379 Sikhs were killed, but the figure is still disputed.

“It is wrong that successive British governments have fallen short of delivering a formal apology to the families of those who were killed,” he said.

“I’m clear that the government should now apologise, especially as we reach the centenary of the massacre. This is about properly acknowledging what happened here and giving the people of Amritsar and India the closure they need through a formal apology.”

Khan, who is from the opposition Labour Party, does not speak for Britain's Conservative government.

Former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron visited Amritsar at the end of a trade mission to India four years ago in a show of contrition over the massacre but stopped short of making a formal apology.

Khan is on a six-day mission to India and Pakistan to strengthen cultural and economic ties with the British capital.

There was no immediate comment from the Foreign Office in London.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...massacre-apology-colonial-india-a8095191.html

 

[CricketCartoons]

Respect for Sadiq Khan Sahab. But expect brown nosing desis will be the first to denounce his call.

 

[DRsohail]

good.

 

[Robert]

Colonel Dyer should have swung for murder for that. As was, he was merely forced to retire. Pro-Empire forces at home considered him a hero, yet he probably caused the beginning of the end of the Raj.

 

[mummad]

Typical politician.What is the use of apology now?

 

[CricketCartoons]

Colonel Dyer should have swung for murder for that. As was, he was merely forced to retire. Pro-Empire forces at home considered him a hero, yet he probably caused the beginning of the end of the Raj.

I apologize for thinking that you were an apologist for the Raj.

 

[PetroDollars]

Typical politician.What is the use of apology now?

He is a good politician and knows the vote bank of the large population of sikhs in London can be his for a long time. Just like the LGBS

 

[SandyB]

Even as a token symbolic gesture, I'd appreciate the UK making a kind of Apology for the Massacre. As children , studying Indian history , the massacre is the 'definitive' indicator of the tyranny of the british rule.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Out of interest, has any nation's govt made this sort of apology for massacres committed historically by their soldiers? Does it involve any sort of financial reparations? I am just wondering if that is a factor, or it's more about keeping face or not accepting the facts as reported.

 

[ahmedzee]

Out of interest, has any nation's govt made this sort of apology for massacres committed historically by their soldiers? Does it involve any sort of financial reparations? I am just wondering if that is a factor, or it's more about keeping face or not accepting the facts as reported.

Musharraf did that to BD
Obama to Japan
Canada apologized internally to other Canadian (such as natives and gays)

 

[GLORY OF '92]

I recommend reading Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India.

Brilliant book which changed some of my views on the Raj.

 

[Robert]

I apologize for thinking that you were an apologist for the Raj.

Fair enough.

All I said was that the Imperial Japanese would have been even worse than the Raj. That isn’t a defence of the Raj which was horrible.

 

[Robert]

Out of interest, has any nation's govt made this sort of apology for massacres committed historically by their soldiers? Does it involve any sort of financial reparations? I am just wondering if that is a factor, or it's more about keeping face or not accepting the facts as reported.

The British apologised to the Chinese for the Opium Wars and to Ireland for Bloody Sunday. It means giving a bit of ground in negotiations. It makes it easier for countries to sell trade deals or peace initiatives to their own people.