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British RoyalsQueen Elizabeth II

Update on Koh-i-Noor diamond: a plea has been dismissed

As Royal Central previously reported, India may take legal action for the Koh-i-Noor diamond that is part of the Crown Jewels to be returned to their home soil. Now Pakistan is trying the same thing.

Javed Iqbal Jaffry, a Pakistani Barrister, filed a plea in the Lahore High Court, naming Queen Elizabeth II and British High Commission in Pakistan as respondents. He was seeking for the federal government to have the British government bring the diamond to Pakistan.

Jaffry cited in his petition that the Koh-i-Noor, which at one time was the world’s largest diamond, should be returned to Pakistan as it was from Pakistan’s Punjab province and that the citizens owned it.

He has claimed the United Kingdon “snatched” it from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and took it to Britain.

The painting depicts Ranjit Singh sitting on his golden throne within the walls of the Lahore Fort. He is in full dress armor, with the Koh-i-Noor diamond on his right arm in it's original setting

The painting depicts Ranjit Singh sitting on his golden throne within the walls of the Lahore Fort. He is in full dress armor, with the Koh-i-Noor diamond on his right arm in it’s original setting

 

“The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which weighs 105 carats and worth billions of rupees,” Jaffry said.

On December 4, the Lahore High Court heard the plea and promptly dismissed it as non-maintainable.

Pakistan only separated from India in 1947, which a considerable amount of time after the British came into possession of the 105-carat diamond in 1849.

Mined in the medieval times in the Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district, the original owners were the Kakatiya Dynasty, which placed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye.

 

According to reports, in 1849, after the British forces conquered the Punjab and the Sikh Empire belongings were confiscated.

It was then added to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore, all the properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as war compensations.

Other reports claim the gem was presented to Queen Victoria by the Maharaja of Lahore in 1849.

India has made several requests for the return of Koh-i-Noor, saying it is an integral part of the country’s history and culture. It was owned by many Mughal emperors and Maharajas before the British seized it.

India says that Koh-i-Noor and other looted goods during colonial rule were illegally acquired and should be returned.

Photo Credit: By Manu Saluja CC via Wikimedia Commons