London (UK): British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday said the UK “deeply regrets” the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Falling short of a complete apology, she called it a “shameful scar” on the British-Indian history. The apology comes after a hundred years after the gruesome attack on Indians that killed approximately 379 and injured more than 1,200 people.
“The tragedy of Jallianwalla Bagh in 1919 is a shameful scar on the British-Indian history. As her Majesty, the Queen said before visiting Jallianwala Bagh 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India. We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused,” May said at the British Parliament.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under Colonel Reginald Dyer fired rifles into a crowd of Indians, who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab to peacefully protest to condemn the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew.
Though the official British Indian sources give us a figure of 379 identified dead, with approximately 1,200 wounded, the casualty number estimated by the independent agencies were more than 1,500, with approximately 1,000 dead.
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