Jallianawala Bagh centenary: Appeal to Centre to invite martyrs & kin in Pakistan
Amritsar: An appeal has been made to the Indian government to extend an invitation for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre’s centenary function this year, to the Pakistan-based descendants of those who were martyred in the British-ordered shooting on April 13, 1919.
Jallianwala Bagh Shaheed Parivar Samiti (JBSPS), a group which represents the kin of those killed at the iconic park in Amritsar, made the appeal to the Indian government on Tuesday.
JBSPS president Mahesh Behal said they wanted to hold a joint ceremony for paying homage to the martyrs, irrespective of caste, creed and religion. Behal said the idea of Partition did not exist when the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy shook the nation.
“Everyone, including Hindu, Sikhs and Muslims, were part of the then nationalist movement for the liberation of India from British rule, and freedom fighters were the torchbearers of this movement,” he said.
“We will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, so that the issue could be taken up at a diplomatic level with Pakistan,” said Behal. In past, he said, the samiti had initiated some efforts at its own level, but couldn’t find the kin of India’s freedom struggle in Pakistan, so they sought the government’s help.
“We want efforts to be initiated at the diplomatic level,” he said.
Behal’s grandfather Lala Hari Ram Behal was among those who were shot down on orders given by Brigadier General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer on April 13, 1919. The firing lasted 10 minutes and more than 1,000 Indians were martyred that day.
The JBSPS president said the Jallianawala Bagh National Memorial Trust never asked them about holding functions or about the management of the memorial. “Our fathers and grandfathers had died in the incident. Then who could be more attached to the memorial than us? However, neither the trust nor the government have sought our opinion on holding functions or managing the memorial,” he said.
He said the state government on June 5, 2010, had issued freedom fighter identity cards to them and this allowed them some facilities, like exemption from paying toll tax and free travel in private buses in Punjab. “More than any facility, we need recognition and respect,” he said.
Saurav Dutt is the Author of a commemorative book to mark the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre centenary entitled Garden of Bullets: Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh.
This article originally featured in The Indian Express.
