About twelve hundred unarmed people were killed in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar on April 13, 1919 by soldiers under the command of a British general. They were protesting against the arrests of Barrister Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew and Doctor Satyapal. They were charged with provoking violence in the city during a nationwide agitation against the authoritarian powers that the imperial government retained even after the end of the First World War.
The stage for this episode was set by Kitchlew, a thirty-five-year old dynamic leader. He was secretary to the Muslim League as well as the National Congress in the second biggest city of northwest India. The people demonstrated unity that transcended political and religious affiliations. Leaders of the Muslim League and the National Congress also reflected such an attitude by holding simultaneous annual sessions of their parties in Amritsar. Along with the general, the then governor of Punjab was also villain during this period as he believed that it was a rebellion to be dealt with severely. He was murdered in 1940 by Udham Singh, who witnessed the carnage and avenged it in England as Mohamed Singh Azad. While the event of Jallianwala Bagh is annually commemorated in India it is time we commemorated it in Pakistan as well.
Taraq Jazy
Islamabad