After BJP leader's call to demolish Jinnah House, Pakistan asks India to protect building

Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday expressed concern over the safety of 'Jinnah House' located in Mumbai and said India should show respect towards it, days after a BJP MLA demanded that the building be demolished.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria, at his weekly briefing, said, "We have clarified our position on the Jinnah House matter to the Indian government."

He expressed concern over the safety of 'Jinnah House', the residence of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah in south Mumbai, after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Mangal Prabhat 
Lodha last week demanded that the building be demolished and a cultural centre built in its place.

Zakaria said that the Indian government should realise the importance of the building and show respect towards it.

Lodha, speaking in Maharashtra's Legislative Assembly on the budgetary demands of the Public Works Department (PWD), said, "The Jinnah residence in south Mumbai was the place from where the conspiracy of partition was hatched."

"Jinnah House is a symbol of the partition. The structure should be demolished," he had said.

The grand house built by Jinnah is located in Malabar Hill area in south Mumbai.