December 24, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 19, 1423

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LAHORE, Dec 23: A house used by Mohammad Ali Jinnah in London in 1893 has been put on the market to be disposed off by the end of January 2003.

The property is currently owned by a US-based Pakistani who is selling it to meet “unavoidable personal commitments” but wishes that its ownership should pass on to some Pakistani.

But, so far, no Pakistani come up with an offer for the property that was initially quoted at a guide price of 1.4 million pounds (British). It is now valued at 1.7 m pounds.

The property was first advertised on Aug 14, this year. The present owner had instructed that his name be kept secret until the finalization of the sale.

The first deadline for receiving offers from prospective buyers was Nov 20, but was extended until the end of January next year as no satisfactory response came to the advertisement.

Khalid Hasan, a Pakistani, whose real estate firm has maintained the residence since 1990, told Dawn by telephone from London that some Pakistanis had lately shown interest in the property, but “no one had come up with a concrete bid so far”.

He said that Pakistan’s previous governments led by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, and the present regime had been approached, but none showed any interest.

Hasan says that he was told by a senior official at one stage that “the government of Pakistan had no obligation with regard to the property”.

The property, on 35 Russell Road, Kensington, London W14, is within “one minute walking distance from Kensington Olympia Station and 12 minutes to Kensington Palace, Commonwealth Institute, Kensington High Street Station and Holland Park. The area is one the top five affluent localities of London.”

According to Hasan, the 12-bedroom property comprises basement, ground, first and second floor residential area. It also has a rear private garden linked with a communal garden.

The Quaid had rented one bedroom when he was a law student. Jinnah House still has the “same furniture that Mr Jinnah had used”.

The only offers received so far are from a Jew and a Hindu developer. Dawn was told that the value of the property had been on the rise in the area by about 20 to 25 per cent every year, and it could reach three million pounds by 2005.