AT least 1,300 civilians were killed in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, on Besakhi Day of April 13, 1919, as, in compliance of an order by a British general to disperse a public meeting of about 20,000 people, a contingent of 50 Gurkha soldiers fired 1,650 rounds within 10 minutes.

The meeting was held as a protest by the people against arrests of their leaders Barrister Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal for alleged provocation of extraordinary violence in the city during a nationwide agitation against dictatorial powers of the British Raj.

Consequently, there were large-scale disturbances in Punjab which were suppressed with ruthless measures, including an air raid on Gujranwala. The situation made a deep impact on the country. An observation made by Mr Gandhi was that “Plassey laid the foundation of the British Empire; Amritsar has shaken it.”

Title of a book by British author Alfred Draper was Amritsar: The Massacre that ended the Raj. Consolidation of the Raj occurred in 1849 at Challianwala and Gujrat with the defeat of the Takht-i-Lahore army, which was politicised after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839.

The stage for this episode was set by Kitchlew, a 31-year-old leader who was secretary of the Muslim League as well as of the National Congress in the second biggest city of northwest India. Following him, the people demonstrated unity, transcending political and religious affiliations.

Kitchlew emerged as the hero of Jallianwala Bagh. A villain of the show was then governor of Punjab who believed that it was a rebellion to be dealt with hardline as the province was entirely different from the rest of the country. 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 did so in Pakistan as well. It is a shared history of sacrifices during our hard struggle for independence.

Taraq Jazy
Islamabad