Former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday favoured granting the martyr status to all the victims of the Kalianwala Khuh (now Shaheedanwala Kuh) besides performing their last rites with full military honours.
Taking time off from his busy campaign schedule for the Lok sabha election, the Congress nominee from Amritsar visited the spot of the Kalianawala Kuh (well) from which the remains of 282 Indian soldiers who participated in the 1857 uprising against the British, were dug up last month. While some of the soldiers were thrown into the well alive, a majority of them were shot and their bodies were dumped in the well which was sealed thereafter.
Talking to reporters at the site, Amarinder said that since the nation had recognised the 1857 uprising as the ‘First War of Independence,’ the 282 soldiers who were massacred and thrown into the well, deserve to be granted the status of martyrs. He also said that their last rites should be performed with full military honours.
On the demand for construction of a memorial at the site, he reiterated that as the soldiers hailing from Uttar Pradesh, belonged to the Hindu community, it would be apt if a temple is constructed. He pointed out that these soldiers belonged to the 26 Native Infantry, which in 1857 comprised Hindu soldiers.
{{/usCountry}}On the demand for construction of a memorial at the site, he reiterated that as the soldiers hailing from Uttar Pradesh, belonged to the Hindu community, it would be apt if a temple is constructed. He pointed out that these soldiers belonged to the 26 Native Infantry, which in 1857 comprised Hindu soldiers.
{{/usCountry}}He lauded the efforts of the local members of the Shaheedanwala Khuh Gurdwara Committee for bringing out this historic fact before the nation.