Pat McFadden Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East Pat McFadden MP for Wolverhampton South East
The 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre
Today, I spoke in the Westminster Hall debate as we approach the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in April 1919. Where on this terrible day, General Dyer ordered his troops to open fire on an unarmed crowd of thousands of people in the Jallianwalla garden. They were in an enclosed space, surrounded almost entirely by walls. It is estimated that 379 innocent people were killed, with three or four times that number wounded.When Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site in 2013 he described the events as “deeply shameful” but stopped short of an official apology. I believe that the approach of the 100th anniversary of this event provides an opportunity to go further and to issue an official apology. I have written a cross-party letter to the Minister, calling for the Government to consider this call for an apology anew. It shouldn’t take 100 years to say sorry for such a terrible crime, but saying sorry 100 years on is better than not saying sorry at all.
Posted by Pat McFadden on Tuesday, April 9, 2019
I recently spoke in a Westminster Hall debate as the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in April 1919 was marked. Where on this terrible day, General Dyer ordered his troops to open fire on an unarmed crowd of thousands of people in the Jallianwalla garden. They were in an enclosed space, surrounded almost entirely by walls. It is estimated that 379 innocent people were killed, with three or four times that number wounded.
When Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site in 2013 he described the events as “deeply shameful” but stopped short of an official apology. I believe that the approach of the 100th anniversary of this event provides an opportunity to go further and to issue an official apology.
I have written a cross-party letter to the Minister, calling for the Government to consider this call for an apology anew. It shouldn’t take 100 years to say sorry for such a terrible crime, but saying sorry 100 years on is better than not saying sorry at all.