India refuses Jinnah House as Pakistani consulate in Mumbai

NEW DELHI: The government of India has refused to give the historic Jinnah House in Mumbai for use as Pakistan’s consulate general and is offering alternate sites. The issue came up on Monday at a joint press conference of the two foreign ministers who are together for ministerial talks between India and Pakistan. Reopening respective consulates in Karachi and Mumbai was an agenda item for the meetings. External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh said: “Both sides are committed to the idea and the officials are already working on it.” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri pointed out that his government wanted the Jinnah House in Mumbai but “there was some problem as far as the government of India was concerned” and an alternate site was offered. However, he said no other location was actually shown which was causing the delay. Natwar Singh responded to Mr kasuri saying that he had already spoken to the Maharashtra chief minister and had requested him to “accommodate our friends from Pakistan.” “We would like to start the process of reopening our consulate offices in Karachi and Mumbai as early as possible. It will be much more convenient for citizens of both countries to be able to get their visas in Mumbai instead of Delhi only, or in Karachi instead of having to go to Islamabad,” he added. iftikhar gilani

Home | National