LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday reserved verdict on maintainability of a petition seeking to bring back the Koh-i-Noor diamond from the UK.

The petitioner and counsel for the federal government concluded their arguments before Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan reserved the verdict.

A deputy attorney general argued that the British Queen could not be sued in Pakistan. He said the instant petition was not maintainable as the Queen had been named as party in it. He asked the court to dismiss the petition for being non-maintainable.

Earlier, Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey, the petitioner, contended that British rulers had snatched Koh-i-Noor from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and took it to the UK. He said the diamond became part of the crown of Queen Elizabeth II at the time of her coronation in 1953.

He pleaded that the Queen had no right on the diamond as it was a cultural heritage of Punjab, and its citizens owned it. He asked the court to direct the government, being member of the Commonwealth nations, to bring the diamond back to Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2016