100 years of Jallianwala massacre: Leaders pay tributes to victims

Events in Amritsar and New Delhi will commemorate the Jallianwala massacre and pay tribute to hundreds of innocent people killed in the worst incident in the history of pre-independent India.

Amritsar:Residents here will be organizing events on Saturday (April 13) to commemorate 100 years of the Jallianwala massacre and pay tribute to hundreds of innocent people killed in the worst incident in the history of pre-independent India.

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• Congress President Rahul Gandhi lays wreath at Jallianwala Bagh memorial on commemoration of 100 years of the massacre. Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh and state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu also present
  

  Leaders paying tribute to victims
• President Ram Nath Kovind paid tributes to the victims of the massacre
• PM Modi paid tribute to the victims of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre
• Amritsar: British High Commissioner to India Sir Dominic Asquith's message in the visitor's book at Jallianwala Bagh memorial
  

  Sir Dominic Asquith's message

Jallianwala Bagh is a public garden in Amritsar and houses the martyrs' memorial which was established in 1951 to commemorate the massacre of hundreds of unarmed and peaceful protestors, including women and children, by British forces led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer on April 13, 1919.

The memorial is managed by the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust. The Prime Minister is the chairman of the Trust.

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee will also be organising a special program in remembrance of martyrs on Saturday at the India Gate. The program will begin with candle march followed by Kirtan by 100 school children. There will also be a play depicting the fateful day.

In Amritsar, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will pay homage to martyrs. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will also be visiting Amritsar.

In February this year, the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to mount pressure on the centre for seeking a formal apology from the British government "for one of the worst ever bloodbaths in the world".

The Assembly resolution stated that "an apology for the massacre would be a befitting tribute to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh during its centenary year".

April 13 - The Dark Day in Indian History

The massacre is one of the darkest chapters of India's freedom struggle to free the country from British occupation. It showed the brutal repression unleashed by the British on Indian subjects.

The massacre took place in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar over Baisakhi in April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of General Reginald Dyer fired indiscriminately at a crowd holding a pro-independence demonstration, leaving 379 people dead, and 1200 injured.

When the troops started indiscriminate firing on the peaceful gathering, everybody panicked, people started running helter-skelter without having any understating where to go.

It was plain ground and there was only one exit, which was a narrow lane. As a result, there was a stampede and many fell upon each other and some fell inside the well in the ground.

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