A Pakistani court today dismissed a petition filed by a barrister seeking direction to the government to bring back the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond, which India has been trying to get from the UK for years, terming the plea as non-maintainable.


Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffry, had filed a plea in the Lahore High Court, naming Queen Elizabeth II and British High Commission in Pakistan respondents, and seeking direction to the federal government to bring the diamond to Pakistan from the British government.


Barrister Jaffry in his petition had said that the Koh-i-Noor, once the largest known diamond in the world, should be returned to Pakistan as it was cultural heritage of Pakistan's Punjab province and its citizens owned it in fact.


He had said that the UK "snatched" the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, and took it to Britain. "The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which weighs 105 carats and worth billions of rupees," he had said.


Hearing the plea, the Lahore High Court dismissed it terming it as non-maintainable. The 105-carat Koh-i-Noor is one of the Crown Jewels and is now on display in the Tower of London.