Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tribute to the martyrs who lost their lives in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and said that their sacrifice and courage can never be forgotten.
"Saluting all the martyrs who lost their lives in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Their sacrifice & courage can never be forgotten," the Prime Minister tweeted.
Today, as India marks 97th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, lets take a look at what happened on that fateful day.
9am, 13th April 1919
At 9:00 on the morning of 13 April, Colonel Reginald Dyer, the acting military commander for Amritsar, proceeded through the city with several city officials, announcing a curfew beginning at 20:00 that night and a ban on all processions and public meetings of four or more persons. The proclamation was read and explained in English, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi, but few paid it any heed.
12 noon, 13th April 1919
Jallianwala Bagh Source: Wikipedia
Meanwhile, the local CID had received intelligence of the planned meeting in the Jallianwala Bagh through word of mouth and plainclothes detectives in the crowds. At 12:40, Dyer was informed of the meeting and returned to his base at around 13:30 to decide how to handle it.
By mid-afternoon, thousands of Sikhs gathered at Jallianwala Bagh near the Golden Temple (Harminder Sahib) in Amritsar. Many who were present there, had earlier worshipped at the Golden Temple on the occasion of Vaisakhi.
2pm, 13th April 1919
Source: Wikipedia
Apart from pilgrims, many farmers, traders and merchants had gathered in Amritsar for the annual Baisakhi horse and cattle fair. The city police closed the fair at 14:00 that afternoon, resulting in a large number of people drifting into the Jallianwala Bagh.
It was estimated that about 20,000 to 25,000 people had gathered in the Bagh by the time of the meeting.
5pm, 13th April 1919
An hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 16:30, Colonel Dyer arrived at Jallianwala Bagh with a troop of soldiers from the British Army and blocked the main entrance without any warning to the crowd to disperse.
Dyer then ordered his troops to begin shooting and firing continued till ammunition supplies were almost exhausted.
Over a thousand died that day at Jallianwala Bagh. Most people died due to gun wounds but many more died in stampedes at the narrow gates or by jumping into the well inside the compound to escape the shooting.
Source: Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia
A plaque, placed at the site after independence states that 120 bodies were removed from the well, which is now called the Martyrs Well.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre was a landmark event in India's freedom struggle which historians consider as a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India.
Source: Wikipedia
