British Court Declines India’s Attempt Against Pakistan’s Claim To The Hyderabad Fund
The British High Court of Justice has declined India’s claim to the Hyderabad Fund. Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in one of his statements, “The seventy five page judgment of Henderson J. is a clear vindication of Pakistan’s principled stance, and the effective legal strategy being pursued by the new legal team.”
India’s legal team however, could not strike out Pakistan’s tenable position and failed to convince the court that India rightfully and legally was entitled to the 35 million GBP that were to be transferred in the name of Pakistan’s High Commissioner in a bank account in West Minister since 20th September, 1948.
As quoted in the Times of India, the Hyderabad Fund was worth GBP 1,007,940 and 9 shillings that were to be transferred to the bank account in the name of the first High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom, Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola. Hyderabad which was under the rule of the seventh Nizam in 1948 was annexed to India on September 18th, 1948 despite the fact that the Nizam had decided to stay independent. An agent transferred the money to Rahimtoola 1948 on the behalf of the Nazim on September 20th, 1948, after which, according to the court, Hyderabad was under the threat of attack from India, and the treatment of the people of Hyderabad by India meant that the Nizam’s wish to reverse the transfer after seven days was not an act based on free will. And so India’s claim to the fund has been rejected. Unless settled, the case would now proceed to trial.
