London: As per a news reported by IBTimes, [t]he UK’s new minister for Asia and the Pacific has finally settled the issue of India’s claim over the Kohinoor diamond. The Kohinoor was taken by the East India Company from Punjab in 1849, during British rule in India, and now forms part of the British Crown Jewels.
During a three-day visit to India, Alok Sharma has said that there is no legal ground for India’s claims and that the diamond will stay where it is.
Notably, Alok Sharma was appointed as UK’s Asia and Pacific Minister by new British Prime Minister Theresa May and his visit to India is the first high-level meeting between the two countries since the UK’s new government took over.
British-Sikhs wrote a letter to Sharma following his comments, expressing their appreciation to the UK minister for Asia, stating that the diamond should stay where it was, notes IBTimes report.
Bhai Amrikh Singh, chair of the Sikh Federation UK, wrote in the letter: “We were pleased to read your statement in your current trip to India in relation to the Kohinoor diamond. As we have previously stated and you were right to point out, India has no legal claim to the Kohinoor.”
Singh went on to note that, by the time the Punjab region was annexed by the British in March 1894, Anglo-Sikh treaties already existed. He said that his meant the future of the Kohinoor diamond was “a matter between Britain and the international Sikh community”.