Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh has welcomed the reported suggestion of the Mayor of London that the UK government should apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday in Amritsar, the CM said he had heard about Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s remarks on the Jallianwala incident and was happy to know about the Mayor’s feelings in the matter.

The suggestion, coming from a British government functionary, was good and, if implemented, would go a long way in further strengthening ties between India and UK, and perhaps, to some extent, assuaging the wounds of Indians who suffered the pain of the independence struggle, Amarinder added.

Earlier, the two leaders met here on Tuesday night at a dinner hosted by the CM for the visiting dignitary. Various issues of mutual interest were discussed at the meeting, during which Sadiq Khan underscored the close and emotional ties between London and Punjab.

Pointing out that there was a large Punjabi diaspora in London, Amarinder said the two sides shared a strong connect, which they were continuously striving to further strengthen.

Meanwhile, members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from Amritsar district submitted a memorandum to the Mayor of London, seeking direct British Airways flights between the holy city of Punjab and London, to facilitate personal and business travel. With more than 35 million pilgrims visiting Amritsar every year to obeisance at the famous Golden Temple, Amritsar had emerged as the preferred destination for the Punjabi diaspora and foreign tourists, the MLAs said in the memorandum.

Amritsar Airport, and the overall Punjab region, account for large international traffic to and from North America, Europe (including UK, Germany and Milan) and Australia but at present the airport lacks any non-stop flights to these destinations. As a result, thousands of people travel by road to take direct non-stop flights between Delhi-London or Delhi-Birmingham. All this traffic can travel direct with a non-stop British Airways flight between London-Amritsar, said the memorandum.

In the memorandum, the MLAs further pointed out that more than 6 million Punjabis settled in North America, Europe, Australia, South East Asia and Middle East countries are from the cities served by Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport, Amritsar (ATQ), which is North India’s second largest airport after the Delhi airport.