LAHORE, May 3: Jinnah House, the London residence of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah during his student days, has finally been auctioned but its new ownership is yet to be determined.

Khalid Hasan, agent for the property owned by a Pakistani settled in the US, told this reporter on telephone that two almost identical bids were being considered from a British and a Russian couple.

He said the deal had not been finalized because of holidays on Saturday, Sunday and Monday (a banking holiday in England), but the matter should be decided on Tuesday.

The offer for the property is 1.2 million British pounds, 50,000 pounds less than the asking price. The auction was held, as advertised, on April 28.

Asked if there were any Pakistani bidders for the property, he said “None”, though a “lot of interest was shown by individuals of Pakistani origin settled in England”.

It seems that they all wanted to get hold of the property at a throwaway price. Pakistan’s high commission in London had acted in the same way, verbally informing Mr Khalid Hasan that the mission was willing to pay half a million pounds.

Mr Hasan made a last-ditch effort to sell the property to the government of Pakistan and contacted the high commissioner again before the auction. He was informed that the matter had been referred to Islamabad and ‘there was no response so far’.

Both bidders in the April 28 auction have requested anonymity. They want their names kept out of the media.