London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Wednesday, 6 December, that the British government should apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar. Khan tributes to martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on Wednesday, a day after he arrived in Amritsar.
"The British government should apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh shootings. Some people use the word massacre," Khan told the media after visiting the Jallianwala Bagh complex.
Scores of innocent Indians, including women, children, and old people, were shot dead by the British troops led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer on 13 April 1919.
The victims had no place to escape as the only narrow entrance was blocked by the troops. Colonial era records put the death toll at around 400, while leaders of the country’s freedom movement put it at over 1,000.
Though British monarch, Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Phillip, had visited the Jallianwala Bagh in October 1997, no apology was offered for the massacre.
British Prime Minister David Cameroon visited Jallianwala Bagh in February 2013 and offered regrets over the killings, stopping short of a formal apology.
Khan also visited the Golden Temple complex, where the holiest of Sikh shrines, Harmandir Sahib, is located and offered prayers.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) gave Khan a 'siropa' (robe of honour) during the visit. Khan also visited the Langar hall, the largest community kitchen in the world, of the shrine complex and partook in the langar.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu hosted a dinner for Khan. The mayor, who was on a three-city tour of India, visiting Mumbai, New Delhi and Amritsar, also crossed over into Pakistan from the Attari-Wagah joint check post land border between India and Pakistan.
The London Mayor, who is of Pakistani-origin, will also visit Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad in Pakistan.
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