Lahore: Even as India has time and again asserted that the 105 carat Koh-i-noor belongs to India, a Pakistani attorney, on Thursday said that he has filed a court petition seeking the return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond to Pakistan, that the Britain forced India to hand over in colonial times.
Once the largest known diamond in the world, the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor is one of the Crown Jewels. It is set in a crown last worn by the late mother of Queen Elizabeth II during her coronation.
Attorney Jawaid Iqbal Jafree filed the court petition naming Queen Elizabeth II as a respondent on Wednesday in the eastern city of Lahore, asking Britain to hand over the diamond to Pakistan, which is now on display in the Tower of London.
As per Jafree, Koh-i-Noor rightly belonged to Pakistan’s Punjab province and was “forcibly and under duress” taken by the British from the local ruler at the time.
He opined that hence, it must be returned to Pakistan.
Britain’s then colonial governor-general of India arranged for the huge diamond to be presented to Queen Victoria in 1850, during British colonial rule.
If Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, eventually becomes queen consort, she will don the crown holding the diamond on official occasions.
In the last half century, Jafree has written over 786 letters to Queen Elizabeth and various Pakistani officials asking for the diamond’s return.
His latest high court petition notes that his letters have never been acknowledged, except once by Queen Elizabeth through her principal private secretary.
However, it may be recalled that during a visit to India in 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron said in an interview on Indian television that the diamond would stay in London.
