The impact of payment is small as compared to the admission of gross inhumanity inflicted on innocent native people by the leading international power of that time.
Image by Ben Heine
My mind is drawn to another terrible massacre by the British. The response of the British authorities after the slaughter was both arrogant and astounding.
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It was the 13th day of April 1919 and the local people had gathered to celebrate 'Baisakhi' the new year in the holy city of Amritsar. General Dyer of the British army in India then in charge on the scene in a display of power ordered the cold blooded massacre of innocent people, many of them women and children. More than a 1000 were slaughtered and approximately 1500 people were grievously wounded.
What did the British do after they learnt of this massacre?
There was an uproar of sorts and long debates held in Britain.Eventually for this monstrous act, General Dyer was felicitated by the British parliament. He was given an honourable discharge, a purse of £ 80,000 pounds and a bejewelled sword inscribed 'Saviour of the Punjab'. A day that will truly live in infamy, and they gave him an award!
A question that always arises is how could a small country could colonise continents and great countries so far away? A journey into history reveals a common thread for all successful conquests of foreign lands and people. The conquerors all possess the following characteristics.
- They have a clear goal and a grand strategy.
- They are extremely greedy for materials, lands and slaves.
- They are utterly ruthless
- They possess advanced weaponry of the times
- They have adopted political and war management systems which are superior
- They are very cunning and adept at the art of deception
- They bribe and use select local people and leaders to control the larger native population
We often express outrage at the acts of the British, but strangely overlook the negative and divisive role of local kings, nawabs and 'noble men and women', whose descendants still enjoy great influence and respect in India. Lured by power, status, and money, the bulk of the military, police and administration of British ruled India consisted of local Indians. Britain ruled undivided India* with a mere 1500 officers.
Not a single Britisher fired a bullet at 'Jallianwalla Bagh'. Sadly the murderers were
50 Gurkhu and 25 Baluchi soldiers, all of them Indians. The massacre was ruthlessly carried out with shooting directed above the waist into the thickest of the crowds so that one bullet could kill more than one civilian. The shooting stopped only because the soldiers ran out of ammunition.
Britain itself was almost destroyed by World War II and faced the real threat of being itself conquered and occupied. Emerging from the ruins of theWar, the British had to make a choice to remain either an empire or a democracy. Britain wisely gave up its dreams of remaining an empire and chose to remain a democracy, because it could no longer justify it's own conduct.
With this apology to the Kikuyu people of Kenya, the British have once again demonstrated great diplomacy, adopting an amazing and strange type of humility.
Great statesmanship requires occasional arrogance and sometimes humility. The acceptance of their crimes and the apology that goes with it, is a tribute to the diplomacy of the British. This apology ensures that the British will continue to play an important and leading role in world affairs even in the future.
Maybe the time is also ripe for Britain to formally apologise to the families of those massacred on that fateful thirteenth day of April 1919.
* Undivided India consisted of what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar,
Maybe the time is also ripe for Britain to formally apologise to the families of those massacred on that fateful thirteenth day of April 1919.
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* Undivided India consisted of what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar,
