The Archbishop of Canterbury, Reverend Justin Welby, on Tuesday visited the Jallianwalla Bagh in Punjab’s Amritsar, said it was deeply humbling and provoked feelings of profound shame for him to visit the site of a horrific massacre over a hundred years ago.
‘Deeply humbling’
After paying homage to those killed in Jallianwala Bagh, Reverend Welby, the global head of the Anglican Communion, wrote in the visitors’ book — “It is deeply humbling and provokes feelings of profound shame for me as British Christian to visit this place that witnessed such an atrocity over a hundred years ago. My first response is pray to my loving heavenly father for healing to those still suffering grief, loss and anger. That prayer to god for healing then compels me to commit to actions that may seek to bridge divides of culture and religion that we may together root out hatred and seek the common good.”
Later, he took to Facebook about Jallianwalla Bagh and posted: “I feel a deep sense of grief having visited the site of the horrific Jallianwala Bagh Massacre today in Amritsar, where a great number of Sikhs, as well as Hindus, Muslims and Christians, were shot dead by British troops in 1919.”
‘Personally sorry’
“I have no status to apologise on behalf of the U.K., its government or its history. But I am personally very sorry for this terrible atrocity,” he added.
He wrote, “Coming here arouses a sense of profound shame at what happened in this place. It is one of a number of deep stains on British history. The pain and grief that has transcended the generations since must never be dismissed or denied.”
“To say sorry as a Christian is to turn around and take a new direction alongside voicing words of apology. When there is something on the scale and horror of this massacre, and done so many years ago, words can be cheaply banded around, as if a simple apology would ever be enough,” he added.
On April 13, 1919, hundreds were killed and more than 1,200 injured after British troops led by Reginald Dyer opened fire on a peaceful gathering at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar.