NEW DELHI/ LAHORE: Pakistan’s former additional attorney general said cabinet approval was not required for a £6 million 'obligatory' payment to the Nizam of Hyderabad’s descendants and the Indian government, following a UK High Court ruling on Thursday that ordered Pakistan to pay a percentage of their legal costs following a closure of the case.
“This issue will not be put before the cabinet for approval. Why would it? It is a liability on the state of Pakistan,” Muhammad Waqar Rana, ex-additional attorney general, told Arab News on Saturday.
He said this was an “obligation” that needed to be paid off.
“The cabinet cannot simply disapprove it and refuse to pay. This amount will have to be paid from the federal consolidated fund otherwise court can force us to pay through our foreign assets, such as (our) ships or our aircrafts parked in the UK,” he added.
In October, the decades-old legal dispute, where both Pakistan and India claimed funds belonging to the last Nizam of Hyderabad during Partition in 1947 and deposited in a London bank account, was decided by a London judge in favor of India.
The Nizam’s descendants joined hands with the Indian government in the legal battle against Pakistan.
The current value of the funds is £35 million after accruing over 70 years of interest.
Rana said the government would further have to pay interest if it delayed the matter. “The earlier it pays the better. Interests will be added from the day of the order.”
Pakistan decided it would not appeal the London High Court’s decision, after which it was ordered in Thursday’s consequential hearing to pay 65 percent on account of all costs in legal fees-- a sum which equals £6 million. Of this, Pakistan will have to pay around £2 million directly to the Indian government.
“This is not (going to be) an easy distribution. There are so many claimants for the money from the Nizam’s side,” Mir Ayoob Ali Khan, a Hyderabad based journalist, told Arab News.
The dispute has its roots in 1948, when the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, deposited £1 million in the UK account of then Pakistan high commissioner, for safe-keeping. At the time, the Nizam had requested Pakistan to keep the money for him, though he had refused to join either India or Pakistan and kept Hyderabad’s status as a princely state.
In 1948 however, Hyderabad was annexed through a military operation by India.
Earlier in October, following the court ruling in favor of India, a Pakistan foreign office statement said the court did not take into account the historical context of the funds' transfer.
“India illegally annexed Hyderabad in violation of International Law and all civilized norms, leading the Nizam of Hyderabad to make desperate efforts to defend his people and the state from Indian invasion,” the statement said.
Pakistan has claimed since formal court proceedings began in 2013, that the money had been given to Pakistan by the Nizam as payment for weapons to defend his kingdom against India.
“Our claim was that the £35 million was a payment made to Pakistan for the arms supplied to the Nizam of Hyderabad to defend himself against Indian aggression,” Rana said.
“Unfortunately, we could not prove it in court.”
The Indian foreign ministry could not be reached for comment.
