ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has strongly responded over the Indian governmentattempts to take custody of Jinnah House Mumbai.
Pakistan will not relinquish its claim to Jinnah House, the mansion thatprior to Partition belonged to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in Mumbai,the Foreign Office said on Thursday.
There was an ongoing legal battle between the government of India andJinnah’s daughter Dina Wadia before her death last year. Wadia had in 2007filed a petition at the Bombay High Court in order to regain the control ofthe estate.
The development comes a day after India’s External Affairs Minister ShusmaSwaraj announced that the Indian government will be turning the estate intoan international convention centre following the transfer of the ownershipof the house by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to herministry.
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As per *India Todaylink*,Swaraj wrote a letter to Bharatiya Janta Party legislator Mangal PrabhatLodha, saying that her ministry will refurbish the bungalow on the linesof Hyderabad House in Delhi.
“The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has instructed us to renovate andrefurbish Jinnah House to develop it on the pattern of facilities availablein Hyderabad House in Delhi. Accordingly, approval of the PMO was soughtfor transfer of the property from ICCR to our ministry. PMO has nowaccorded necessary approvals,” Swaraj wrote in the latter.
