[MSN] Amritsar, Dec 11 (IANS) Bowing to pressure from various quarters, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) Tuesday removed the portrait of British General Reginald Dyer, who had ordered his troops to open fire on innocent Indians at the Jallian

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India News
SGPC removes Gen Dyer's portrait from museum
By BANG
Dec 11, 2007, 17:53 GMT

Amritsar, Dec 11 (IANS) Bowing to pressure from various quarters, the
Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) Tuesday removed the portrait
of British General Reginald Dyer, who had ordered his troops to open fire on
innocent Indians at the Jallianwala Bagh in 1919, from the Sikh museum
inside the Golden Temple complex. 

Hundreds of unarmed men, women and children fell to the bullets of the
British soldiers in the unprovoked firing ordered by Dyer at Jallianwala
Bagh, an enclosed garden inside the walled city, located close to the
Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple), on April 13, 1919. 


He has been labelled as the 'butcher of Jallianwala Bagh'. 


Dyer's portrait remained in the Sikh museum for several years before a local
organization, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Youth Forum, objected and forced the SGPC
to remove it. 


The forum has questioned how the SGPC never thought of installing a portrait
of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in the museum instead. SGPC sources here
said Bhagat Singh's portrait is likely to be installed shortly. 


Bhagat Singh's birth centenary is being celebrated this year. The Parliament
House in New Delhi will also soon have his portrait. 


The SGPC is already facing criticism for the controversial installation of a
portrait of separatist Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the museum
recently. He has been mentioned as a Sikh general who fought the Indian
Army. In official records though, he remains a terrorist who was killed in
the army's Operation Bluestar here June 1984. 

C 2007 Indo-Asian News Service