Petition to bring kohinoor from UK to pakistan.
The world famous Kohinoor diamond that India has been trying to get from the UK, lies in Pakistan. A petition has been filed in a Pakistani court asking the government to bring back the Kohinoor diamond.
Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffry alleged in his petition filed to the Lahore High Court that the UK stole the Kohinoor from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, and took it to Britain.
A lobby group made up of Indian businessmen and actors is mounting a legal challenge against Queen Elizabeth II demanding the return of the world famous Kohinoordiamond to India.
The 105-carat stone, believed to have been mined in India nearly 800 years ago, was presented to Queen Victoria during the Raj and is now set in a crown belonging to Queen's mother on public display in the Tower of London.
David de Souza, co-founder of the Indian leisure group Titos, is helping to fund the new legal action and has instructed British lawyers to begin high court proceedings.
"The Kohinoor is one of the many artefacts taken from India under dubious circumstances. Colonisation did not only rob our people of wealth, it destroyed the country's psyche itself. It brutalised society, traces of which linger on today in the form of mass poverty, lack of education and a host of other factors," De Souza told 'Sunday Telegraph'.
The history of the Kohinoor
The diamond was originally owned by the Kakatiya Dynasty, which had installed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye.
But it was reported that, in 1849, after the conquest of the Punjab by the British forces, the properties of the Sikh Empire were confiscated, after which, the Kohinoor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore. The properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as war compensations.
It passed through the hands of various invaders, but finally landed with the British during the Raj. Today, the diamond is a part of the Crown of Queen Elizabeth II.
But wait...the Kohinoor belongs to India
The Indian government has been long demanding the return of Kohinoor which was owned by several Mughal emperors and Maharajas before being seized by the British. Our country says that Kohinoor was illegally acquired and wants it returned along with other treasures looted during the colonial rule.
In 1997, when Queen Elizabeth II made a state visit to India marking the 50th anniversary of independence, many Indians in India and Britain demanded the return of the diamond.
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