PESHAWAR, April 30: Participants of a conference have demanded that Britain should apologise to Pakistan for killing 400 innocent people in Peshawar on April 23, 1930, when British troops had opened fire on unarmed citizens at Qissa Khwani Bazaar.

The demand was made through one of the five resolutions passed by the participants of the conference held by the Gandhara Hindko Board, says a press release issued here on Monday.

Leaders of various political parties, academicians, social workers, language and cultural activists and student unions’ leaders attended the conference to pay homage to those who had offered sacrifices while facing the British forces in the quest for freedom.

Allama Ramazan Tauqeer, Adviser to NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, was the chief guest.

The resolution said Britain had apologised to the Indian government for mass killing in Jalyanwala Bagh in East Punjab, hence the government of Pakistan should not hesitate in taking up the issue with the British government and asking it to apologise for the crime its forces committed in Peshawar 77 years ago.

Other resolutions urged the government to construct a grand monument at a prominent place in Peshawar in memory of the martyrs, make the Qissa Khwani firing case part of the curriculum at schools, facilitate research at the university level on the incident and make arrangements for removing the remains from Peshawar Central Jail graveyard of freedom fighter Ghazi Abdur Rasheed Siddiqui, who was arrested and hanged by the British rulers in 1930 after the incident, and his burial with state honours.

Earlier, the speakers highlighted the importance of the sacrifice offered on the day and termed the Qissa Khwani incident a turning point in the history of the freedom struggle waged in this part of the subcontinent.

The speakers included Syed Qamar Abbas and Khursheed Ahmad of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Shabir Ahmad Khan MNA of Jamaat-i-Islami, Sharafat Ali Mubarik of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Muazzam Butt of the PML, Sufi Basheer Ahmad Durrani of the Awami National Party, Dr Abdul Hafeez of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Babar Ahmad of the Hazara Students’ Organisation, Allama Ramazan Tauqeer, Maulana Abdus Salaam Salafi, Prof Zahoor Ahmad Awan, Dr Adnan Gul and Mohammad Ziauddin.