Jinnah House in Mumbai to be made Saarc cultural centre

"It has been assured to Pakistan that the current design and structure of the Jinnah House would not be changed, but it would be renovated according to its current design," visiting Indian External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh told newsmen in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Earlier, Pakistan had asked India to hand over the Victorian house to it so that it could be converted into Pakistan consulate.

According to press reports in India and Pakistan, Natwar Singh said the Jinnah House is being renovated, but no structural changes were being made in the building considering the sentiments of Pakistani people.

Asked whether the decision meant all doors were closed for Pakistan to acquire it, Natwar Singh said, "In diplomacy, you never close all doors."

The Rs. 65 crore mansion is a centre of claims by the Indian and Pakistani governments, apart from Jinnah's New York-based daughter Dina Wadia and grandson Nusli Wadia, an industrialist.

The issue has repeatedly been raised By Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri with the Indian leadership in the last two years.

Built by Jinnah in 1936 on his return from England to take charge of the Muslim League, the Victorian house with rich interiors and marble flooring, wood panelling and exquisite furniture and the surrounding gardens are perfect for a cultural centre.

Jinnah had left the house to his sister Fatima Jinnah, who remained the legal owner of the house until 1985, when the Maharashtra government claimed it as 'evacuee property'.

With regard to a place for Pakistan consulate in Mumbai, which is expected to reopen in January, the Pakistan High Commission has identified a property to be taken on rent.

According to Mumbai-based web agency Cybernoon, this was a long-standing proposal that has finally seen the light of day -- the conversion of the Jinnah House at Malabar Hill into a cultural centre.

Hidden in the thick foliage of green trees, the house now remains under tight security. The locked gate now had a placard that reads 'Proposed site of Saarc Sub-Regional Cultural Centre'.

Earlier in the '90s, there was a proposal that the Jinnah's house be converted into the ICCR's (Indian Centre for Cultural Relations) Cultural Centre.

In 1991, during the Indo-Pak summit, the Jinnah House was also claimed by Dina Wadia, who strongly opposed the Pakistan government's proposal to hand over the house to Pakistan for converting it into the Pakistan consulate.

When Jinnah left India after its partition, he left behind this property and asked for similar property in Pakistan. So, he was given the Mota House, a palatial building at Clifton, which, visitors say, was bigger and more beautiful.