Court seeks AGP’s help in Kohinoor diamond case

LAHORE

Lahore High Court Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan on Tuesday sought assistance of attorney general of Pakistan and advocate general, Punjab, on a petition seeking directions to the federal government to take back the Kohinoor diamond from Queen Elizabeth-II of Britain. 

Previously, the court had directed the counsel to submit a copy of the treaty of Lahore 1849 under which the diamond was handed over to British East India Company. 

The government counsel on Tuesday informed that the copy of this contract had already been submitted before the court.  Petitioner Barrister Syed Javed Iqbal Jaffree submitted that the Kohinoor was once the largest cut diamond, 105-carat stone, in the world and was presented to Queen Victoria during the British Raj. He alleged that British rulers during the occupation of subcontinent seized the Kohinoor worth billions of rupees from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and took it to the United Kingdom. 

He said that this diamond was in the crown worn by the Queen Mother at the coronation of her husband King George VI in 1937 and again at Queen Elizabeth-II coronation in 1953. He said that since then this diamond was in the British possession whereas the Queen Elizabeth had no right to the Kohinoor.  He said that the diamond actually belonged to the territory now Pakistan. He said that the snatched diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it in fact.