ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has asserted that the Jinnah House in Mumbai belonged to it and any attempt by India to take ownership of the building will not be accepted.
Foreign Office Spokesperson, Dr Faisal detailed on Thursday that Pakistan has a claim over Jinnah House and Indians have already accepted that it belongs to Pakistan saying, we have record of it.
On the other hand, India was quick to lay claim to the mansion as External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar expressed that Islamabad had no locus standi on the building.
’Pakistan is not in the picture at all…it is the Government of India (GoI) property,’’ the spokesperson said.
The comments came days after Indian External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj said her ministry is in the process of getting the bungalow transferred in its name.
In a letter to Mumbai city BJP legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Swaraj said Prime Minister’s Office has instructed to renovate and refurbish Jinnah House on much the same lines as Hyderabad House in Delhi.
“Accordingly, approval of the PMO was sought for transfer of the property from ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) to our ministry. PMO has now accorded necessary approvals,” Swaraj said in her letter dated December 5.
The sea-facing bungalow on Malabar Hill in Mumbai was designed by architect Claude Batley and Pakistan’s founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah lived there in the late 1930s; Pakistan had been demanding the ownership of the building for housing its Mumbai consulate.
Pakistan and India are not the only players in the legal battle as Dina Wadia, the daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah had in 2007 moved the Bombay High Court to regain control of the building; she breathed her last in November last year.
Following the death of Dina, Nusli Wadia, Quaid’s maternal grandson was allowed to step in as petitioner in the plea.
