The Nizam Family Welfare Association, a rightful claimant in the legal tussle over the Hyderabad Nizam’s Rs310 crore locked up with a UK bank, has impleaded in the case after Pakistan in April 2013 initiated a civil action against the bank for releasing the money, saying it indisputably had the legal title.
Express had earlier reported that India, being party to the case, would pursue the case that was revived after 57 years. It’s learnt that Pakistan’s attempt to settle the dispute through a meeting with representatives of Prince Mukkram Jah and Muffakam Jah was stonewalled by the bank after it noticed that the Indian representative and the Nizam Family Welfare Association weren’t invited to the meeting held in the UK.
Nawab Najaf Ali, president of the association, told Express that since Pakistan had voluntarily submitted to the jurisdiction of the court and waived its sovereign immunity, the case should be resolved as soon as possible with all rightful claimants on board. Ali said the association leaders had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2008 over the issue and subsequently met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan high commissioners, seeking to resolve it through an out-of-court settlement.
“Now that six-decade-long issue seems to see the light of the day and only one son and three daughters of Nizam VII are alive, the family members hope this issue gets resolved promptly,” Ali said in a statement issued on March 4.
The current dispute has its genesis in the 1948 transfer of 1 million pound from Hyderabad Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan’s account in Westminster Bank (now NatWest Bank) to the account of the then Pakistan high commissioner in the UK, Ibrahim Rahimtoohla. The fund was allegedly transferred by the Nizam’s Finance Minister without his knowledge.