LAHORE: Seventy-three-old Muhammad Akram was meticulously going through every document of Jallianwala Bagh massacre displayed at the Lahore Heritage Museum here to relate the facts of the episode with the stories told to him by his father and grandfather who, he said, had witnessed the tragedy 100 years ago.

“My grandfather had gone to the Jallianwala Bagh (in Amritsar) along with my father on April, 13, 1919 when the British Indian Army troops (under the command of Brig-Gen Reginald Dyer) opened fire on a peaceful crowd, killing scores of people. My grandfather told me that he and my father were lucky to survive the fateful day,” said Mr Akram who practices homeopathy in his residential area, Mughalpura.

“My father would often talk about the horrific scenes of the massacre which he couldn’t erase from his memory till his last breath,” he told Dawn. Akram, whose family migrated to Lahore from Amritsar during the Partition, wanted the government to invite the people affected by such tragedies to remember their significance.

This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that historical documents related to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre were put on display by the archives and libraries wing of the services and general administration department (S&GAD) of the Punjab government. More than 60 documents were part of the exhibition that would continue till April 26 at the museum.

About the motive of the exhibition, Archives Secretary Tahir Yousuf said: “It is a treasure trove and the public has the right to see it.” Mr Yousuf further said the department had decided to put on display some 67 or so documents related to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the martial law imposed in Punjab in April 1919, to mark 100 years of this tragic event.

“We will continue digging out the old record of different historical events and known personalities from the archives so that the people could see it,” the secretary added.

Art Critic and writer Prof Ijazul Hasan termed the exhibition a “very welcoming step”. “It is great that we have started opening up the archives of such historical events. It will provide a great chance, especially to our youth, to know about important chapters of our history,” Prof Hasan said.

According to the archives department: “These documents throw a new light on the horrors committed by the British government and military in Punjab after declaration of martial law in Amritsar, Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Lyallpur (now Faisalabad) districts in 1919. These facts were not only hidden from the people of British India and England, but the Hunter Commission was also kept ignorant intentionally.”

According to the rare documents, the official claim of the death toll in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre was 291, including two women and five children.

The documents include expulsion order of 47 students of different institutions of Lahore, a copy of the letter of the Lahore deputy commissioner informing the chief secretary that certain schoolboys were whipped on the orders of officer commanding Kasur and two boys aged 8 and 10 were tried by the martial law court and handed down six stripes each.

These also include a telegram dated April 15 (1919), just two days after the massacre, stating that martial law had been declared in Lahore and Amritsar and planes dropped bombs on Gujranwala (on April 14, 1919) and Lyallpur (Faisalabad), telegraph wire was cut, besides a copy of the report about disturbances in Lahore, Amritsar, Ahmadabad, Patna and Kasur.

Another document put on display is the letter of Rawalpindi governor to the chief secretary, Punjab, asking him to take strict action to ensure respect for all Europeans in Rawalpindi and declare martial law in Jehlum to teach the people discipline as a punishment for throwing stone on the car of Mr Barton, the deputy commissioner of Rawalpindi.

The Rowlatt Act 1919 was the main cause of the agitation which led to the disturbances in every district of Punjab that followed imposition of the martial law. The public explanation of the provision of the Act that any Indian would be sent to jail without giving any reason and had no right of either appeal or representation through a lawyer, is also part of the exhibition.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2019