Hopes that a British government minister would offer an apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre were dashed when MPs held a debate on the tragedy in parliament on Tuesday.
However, Mark Field, minister of state at the foreign office, who said he had been to India no fewer than three times in the last 18 months, admitted he had found many of the speeches “very, very compelling”.
He would report back to the foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and the Prime Minister Theresa May, he said.
The debate was held not in the House of Commons but in a large committee room just off Westminster Hall and followed a motion on Jallianwala Bagh tabled by the Tory MP for Harrow East, Bob Blackman.
The latter said that if what had happened on April 13, 1919, occurred today, Brig. Gen. Reginald Dyer would be tried for war crimes.
Other MPs pressed for a formal apology by the Prime Minister and also demanded that British schoolchildren be given history lessons on the dark side of the British empire.
Field made it clear at the outset that he could not deliver a formal apology on behalf of the government.
“Honourable members will recognise it is not appropriate for me today to make the apology that I know many would wish to come but I would like to say more on the on-going path that we are on,” he began. He admitted he had originally adopted an “orthodox” view which was: “I would be reluctant to make apologies for things that happened in the past.”
He pointed out: “There are concerns that any government department has to make about any apology given there may well be financial implications to making an apology.”
Also offering too many apologies for “many, many events” in the past would “debase the currency of apology”.
“However, I found almost all of the contributions today to be extremely compelling. They were made in the right tone, not of anger, but of regret but also with a keen eye on the future.
“This is, let me assure the House, work in progress. So it is an active debate taking place among ministers and indeed among senior officials, not least our excellent high commissioner in New Delhi Sir Dominic Asquith who is, of course, related to Herbert Asquith whose quotes at the time have come up in this debate.
“Later this week we shall mark the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre — I recognise the enduring and very deep feelings and emotions this incident raises, not just here in this House, but continues to raise across the world. Let me be clear this was a tragedy and a shameful episode in British history.
“There is an increasingly strong recognition that a formal acknowledgement of deep regret is important in helping to frame the modern bilateral relationship.”
He went on: “During the course of this year we will mark this sombre anniversary in the most appropriate way. In India I have asked representatives from our high commission in New Delhi to visit the site to lay a wreath on behalf of the British government.”
“And there will be further acknowledgement of these terrible events in the months ahead.
“I can also reassure all honourable members that the government will publicly acknowledge the centenary closer to home here in the United Kingdom, looking back with the deepest regret at what occurred, but also looking forward to the strong bonds both our countries are building for the future.
“There is an on-going sense of consideration that is happening in this regard.
“Issues such as this frame our history.
“It is right that we mark the centenary of this tragic event in Amritsar in the most appropriate way and that we never forget what happened. It was a shameful episode in our history and one that we deeply regret to this day.
“In the intervening period we have learnt lessons and that everything we do is to try and prevent such tragedies occurring again elsewhere in the world.
“However, I also recognise that modern relationship with India is framed by the past. It would not be appropriate for me in the context of this debate to apologise today. I have found many of the speeches today very, very compelling and I will take up both with the foreign secretary and No 10 Downing Street a sense that we perhaps need to do a little more than even the very deep regrets that I have set out today.
“Something is holding back fulfilling the full potential of a flourishing relationship. “This is work in progress – I can’t make any promises. I do feel perhaps we do need to go further.
“So I believe the best way to honour those who suffered and died in Jallianwala Bagh 100 years ago is that we all do our best to build a new partnership between the UK and India that will work not just for both our countries but also recognise that partnership can be an important force for good in the world at large.”