NEW DELHI, March 16: India said on Wednesday that the house in Mumbai that belonged to Qaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah would be converted into an office for a Saarc culutral centre. Pakistan had requested India for the lease of the Jinnah House as the residence of their Consul General in 1979. “However, after carefully considering the request, the Government of India had conveyed its inability to accede to Pakistani request,” Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed told parliament.

“The government has decided to use the Jinnah House as SAARC Sub-Regional Cultural Centre under the administrative control and direction of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations,” he said. The two governments are engaged in the hunt for an agreeable property to house the new Pakistan consulate general which is due to re-open any time now.