Asked why an apology was not tendered by the British government, Asquith said, "I know this is a really important question. I would just ask you to respect what I came here to do, which is to commemorate those who died a hundred years ago and to express the sorrow of the British government and of the British people. "But I would repeat what I said earlier that both governments are committed to building a very strong relationship...we have an extraordinarily flourishing relationship today." He pointed out that former British prime minister David Cameron, during his visit to India earlier, had expressed regret and termed the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy a "deeply shameful scar".

Asquith also added that the Queen (Elizabeth II) had spoken of the incident as a distressing example of Britain's past history with India. The British envoy said his great-grandfather H H Asquith, who was the prime minister of Britain between 1908 and 1916, had referred to the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy as one of the worst outrages. "My own great grandfather, who was the prime minister for almost a decade, had referred to this as one of the worst outrages in our whole history," he said. The massacre took place at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar during the Baisakhi festival in April 1919 when the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer opened fire at a crowd staging a pro-independence demonstration, leaving scores dead.

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