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BC Premier presents Jallianwala Bagh Massacre proclamation to community activists Featured

 

Premier John Horgan presented the Jallianwala Bagh massacre proclamation to well-known South Asian community activists at the BC Legislature on Thursday, April 11.  

Following sustained efforts of Mehak Punjab Dee TV, Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation and Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), the BC government has proclaimed April 13, 2019 as “The Commemoration of the Centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Day”. 

Close to 1,000 peaceful protestors were killed in firing by the British troops at Jallianwala Bagh public park in Amritsar, India on April 13, 1919.

The demonstrators had gathered in protest against repressive laws and arrests of the leaders of the passive resistance movement against British occupation of India.

The bloody episode galvanized the freedom movement that culminated into the end of British rule in 1947.

The proclamation, signed by the Lt. Governor and Attorney General, was presented to Kamaljit Singh Thind of Mehak Punjab Dee TV, Sahib Thind of Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation, and Parshottam Dosanjh of IAPI by Horgan at the Premier’s office in Victoria.

Sahib Thind had recently visited England to lobby the British parliament for an apology for the massacre. While British Prime Minister Theresa May has only regretted the incident, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has asked for a full apology. Thind had met Corbyn personally to make him understand the importance of an apology. Likewise, Kamaljit Singh Thind had started an online petition seeking British apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He is also instrumental behind annual vigils that are organized in Surrey every year in memory of the victims of the Jallianwala Bagh incident, and has been organizing exhibitions depicting the tragedy at Vaisakhi parades in Vancouver and Surrey.  

Surrey Greentimbers MLA Rachna Singh was also present on the occasion.

Earlier in the day, Singh made a statement in the house in commemoration of the tragedy.  She noted, “While we must keep our history alive, we also need to stand up against state-sponsored brutality anywhere in the world”.  She emphasized that the history of Jallianwala Bagh massacre, reminds us of “our collective responsibility to carry forward the struggle for a just and humane world”.

 

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Last modified on Friday, 12 April 2019 14:10
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