HVK Archives: U.K. wants PM to clarify statement
U.K. wants PM to clarify statement - The Times of India
Times of India News Service
()
19 August 1997
Title: U.K. wants PM to clarify statement
Author: Times of India News Service
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 19, 1997
Pressure mounts in Britain for apology
The British government on Monday sought "urgent clarifications" from New
Delhi on Prime Minister I.K. Gujral's reported advice to the Queen not to
visit Amritsar and said "no decision has yet been taken" on her final
itinerary when she visits India in October.
"We have sought urgent clarifications" from Indian authorities on Mr
Gujral's reported remarks that the Queen should drop her plans to visit
Amritsar during her forthcoming six-day state visit to India beginning
October 12.
"We are in touch with Indian external affairs ministry and no decision has
yet been taken on the Queen's visit to Amritsar," said an official
spokesman. Asked about rest of her itinerary he said "the same applies to
it also. Obviously we do not want such an Important state visit
overshadowed by political protest."
The spokesman said "the (Indian) Prime Minister's reported remarks do not
entirely fit with what we have been given to understand by the Indian
government."
According to a report from New Delhi, the Queen's proposed trip to Amritsar
is most likely to be dropped from the itinerary. "The Queen's visit
constitutes an Important event and the government of India would like to
see a, successful outcome of the visit and for it to contribute to
furthering the excellent relations that, India has with the United
Kingdom," said an external affairs ministry spokesman.
"In order to ensure that this excellent relationship with a very friendly
country is Insulated from controversy, India has drawn the attention of the
British government to the sentiments being expressed on the proposed visit
to Amritsar," the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the British High Commission spokesperson in New Delhi said "the
programme for the state visit is still being finalised and no final
decisions have been taken about the Queen's itinerary." The proposed visit
to Amritsar, the spokesperson said, "is in the air - she will visit
Amritsar if enough people want her to go there but the programme is still
being finalised."
There was no immediate comment from the Buckingham Palace which had sent a
high level team to India to finalise details of the visit as the Queen is
currently vacationing at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. (PTI)
Tohra says Queen need not apologise
SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra on Monday regretted Prime Minister
I.K. Gujral's reported suggestion to Queen Elizabeth II to drop her visit
to Amritsar in view of the demand that she apologise for the Jallianwala
Bagh massacre.
In a statement here, Mr Tohra said people with vested interests were
deliberately trying to put the Queen in an embarrassing position. "None of
them represents popular public opinion," Mr Tohra said. He added members
of the British royal family and government had visited Amritsar in the past
without being confronted by such demands.
In an appeal to the British government Mr Tohra said the Queen's visit to
Amritsar would be a pilgrimage and it must not be dropped from her itinerary.
Two Punjab Congress Rajya Sabha members - Surinder Singla and Virendra
Kataria also feel the Queen need not apologise. "Her visit to the
Jallianwala Bagh in itself should suffice. She herself would feel ashamed
of what happened when she goes there," said Mr Kataria. "Our civilisation
and culture does not behove of us to seek an apology from the Queen," says
Mr Singla.
However, some ruling Akali ministers who did not wish to be quoted told
TOINS they disagreed with this view and pointed to how the erstwhile West
Germany had apologised to the Jews for the Holocaust. Other parallels
include japan's apology for war crimes in Korea during the second world
war, the Czech government's apology last year for expelling ethnic Germans
from Sudetenland after World War II, Germany's apology to the Czech
Republic for their invasion in 1938, former US secretary of state Robert
McNamara's apology to native Americans for the treatment meted out to them.
In the wake of prime minister I.K. Gujral's statement that the Queen avoid
visiting Amritsar, it is not certain whether she would make the trip.
However according to the official itinerary she is to visit the city on
October 14 whence she will visit Jallianwala Bagh and the Golden Temple
followed by a civic reception at the local Khalsa college.
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