British PM Regrets Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, But Refuses To Apologise

London: Britain has once again stopped short of tendering a full apology for the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 that killed close to 400 people.

On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May in the Parliament described the massacre in Amritsar as a “shameful scar” on the British Indian history, but she refrained from apologising over the incident.

“We deeply regret what happened and the suffering caused,” May told the British Parliament, as India prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of the killings.

However, she merely reiterated the stand her predecessors had taken on the issue, including the monarchy.

Ahead of her visit to India in 1997, Queen (Elizabeth II) had said in a statement that the tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh of 1919 is a “shameful scar” on British Indian history. “It is a distressing example of our past history with India,” she had added.

Later, during his visit to the Amritsar in 2013, former British prime minister David Cameron described the incident as”deeply shameful”.

At today’s question and answer session in the Brtish Parliament, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, however, called for “a full, clear and unequivocal apology”.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on April 13, 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer fired rifles into a crowd, who had gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab for a peaceful protest to condemn the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew.

The massacre is described as one of the bloodiest episodes of modern world history.