Pakistan strongly responds over Indian government attempts over custody of Jinnah House Mumbai
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has strongly responded over the Indian government attempts to take custody of Jinnah House Mumbai.
Pakistan will not relinquish its claim to Jinnah House, the mansion that prior 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 and Jinnah’s daughter Dina Wadia before her death last year. Wadia had in 2007 filed a petition at the Bombay High Court in order to regain the control of the estate.
The development comes a day after India’s External Affairs Minister Shusma Swaraj announced that the Indian government will be turning the estate into an international convention centre following the transfer of the ownership of the house by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to her ministry.
As per *India Today link*, Swaraj wrote a letter to Bharatiya Janta Party legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha, saying that her ministry will refurbish the bungalow on the lines of Hyderabad House in Delhi.
“The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has instructed us to renovate and refurbish Jinnah House to develop it on the pattern of facilities available in Hyderabad House in Delhi. Accordingly, approval of the PMO was sought for transfer of the property from ICCR to our ministry. PMO has now accorded necessary approvals,” Swaraj wrote in the latter.