British PM expressed regret yesterday for Jallianwala Bagh Massacre by the British troops in India in 1919. Now Pakistan Minister Fawad Chaudhry asked Britain to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond – subject to a bitter ownership battle – between India and Pakistan.
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The Koh-i-Noor (“Mountain of Light”), now part of the British Crown Jewels, has witnessed the birth and the fall of empires across the Indian subcontinent.
Fawad also reiterated and endorsed the demand that Britain must apologise to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, in which British troops opened fire on thousands of unarmed protesters and killed scores.
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday expressed regret for the massacre by British troops in India in 1919 but stopped short of a full apology. “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. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, called for “a full, clear and unequivocal apology”.
Colonial-era records show about 400 people died in the northern city of Amritsar when soldiers opened fire on men, women and children in an enclosed area, but Indian figures put the toll at closer to 1,000.
Former British prime minister David Cameron described it as “deeply shameful” during a visit in 2013 but also stopped short of an apology.
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