Finally the British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed “deep regret” for a colonial era massacre carried out a hundred years ago in the city of Amritsar in Punjab. May’s statement in the House of Commons, however, fell short of a full apology for the events of April 13, 1919, when British Indian Army troops led by Colonel Reginald Dyer opened fire on civilians at Jallianwala Bagh.
Theresa May described the tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a “shameful scar on British Indian history.... As Queen (Elizabeth II) said in 1997, it is a distressing example of our past history with India.” In the centenary year of the bloodbath, a section of Indian-origin British parliamentarians have been pushing the U.K. government to issue a formal apology. May’s statement, too, merely echoes similar sentiments expressed by her forerunners. During a visit to Punjab in February 2013, the then British Prime Minister David....
