LAHORE – Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed the Punjab government to submit copy of the Treaty of Lahore 1849 under which the Koh-i-Noor diamond was handed over to the East Indian Company.
Hearing petition of Barrister Jawaid Iqbal Jafree, the judge ordered for the production of the treaty’s copy till May 2. In reply to the petition, the government’s counsel informed the court that the diamond was handed over to the East India Company through a treaty between then Punjab ruler Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and the British East Indian Company.
He said that as the diamond was given through a treaty and the government could not demand its return. The petitioner said that such a treaty could be reached between the two governments and in this case the East India Company was not a sovereign authority and this treaty had no value. He said that this diamond was forcibly taken from here and it should be returned.
Justice Khalid Mehmood ordered for the production of the copy of the treaty. Earlier, the petitioner had submitted that the Koh-i-Noor was once the largest cut diamond in the world and 105.6 carat stone was presented to then British Queen Victoria during the British Raj in Indian subcontinent. During the occupation, the British rulers had seized the Koh-i-Noor worth billions of rupees from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and took to the United Kingdom, he said.
Barrister Jafree said that this diamond was in the crown worn by the queen at the coronation of her husband King George VI in 1937 and again at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth-II in 1953. Since then, this diamond was in British possession whereas the queen had no right on the Koh-i-Noor, he said.
He said that the snatched diamond was cultural heritage of the Punjab province and its citizens owned it in fact. He requested the court to direct the federal government to bring the diamond back to Pakistan.
