Amritsar centenary: Should Britain apologise for its colonial atrocities?

The walled garden at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar is unrecognisable today from the spring of 1919, when it became the scene of the single bloodiest act of violent oppression in Britain’s colonial occupation. open image in gallery Sunil Kapoor holds a portrait of his great-grandfather Lala Wasoo Mal, who was killed at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 Nonetheless, at 4pm on 13 April the crowd included “a lot of people who didn’t know exactly what the meeting was, so weren’t necessarily politically involved”, says Dr Kim Wagner, a senior lecturer in British Imperial History at Queen Mary University London and author of Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre. Kapoor, who also heads a small foundation for the families of those killed at Jallianwala Bagh, says the centenary is a “good time” for Britain to finally deliver a full apology. open image in gallery The Jallianwala Bagh memorial park is now full of tourists, as the city gears up for events to mark the centenary Families with selfie sticks pose for photographs next to the gaudy, pink-roofed “Martyrs’ Well”, from which legend has it 120 bodies were pulled after the massacre ended. How could they be so cruel?” open image in gallery David Cameron pays his respects at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial garden, the first British prime minister to do so Desai says that, other than the centenary itself, there “can be no other moment” for an apology after so many years.