Strongly rejecting Pakistan’s claim of ownership of the Jinnah House in Mumbai, India on Thursday said that the property belongs to it.
While talking to media, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “Pakistan has no locus standi as far as this property is concerned. It is a government of India’s property and we are in the process of renovating it.”
He further said, “We are actually in the process of renovating it and putting it to effective use on the lines of what we do with Hyderabad House in New Delhi.” “The property would be used to host government events,” he added.
It is to be noted that Raveesh Kumar’s remark came after the Pakistan Foreign Office earlier in the day said that Islamabad would not relinquish its claim over the property.
On the other hand, Jinnah’s daughter Dina Wadia had moved the Bombay High Court in August 2007 claiming ownership of the property on the ground that she was the sole legal heir of Jinnah. After she passed away in December last year, her son and Wadia group chairman Nusli Wadia is carrying on the litigation process.
The Jinnah House on Malabar Hill in Mumbai was designed by architect Claude Batley in European style and Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah lived there in the late 1930s. Pakistan has been demanding that the property be handed over to it for housing its Mumbai consulate.
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