NEW DELHI // India is planning to launch a UN-backed international campaign to retrieve from Britain historical artefacts taken during colonial rule, a move that could lead to rare co-operation with neighbouring Pakistan. India had renewed its long-time demand this month that Britain return the many historical and cultural objects, including the legendary Koh-i-Noor diamond, that are now housed in British museums, but a spokesperson for the British High Commission in Delhi rejected India's claims.
At the same time, Pakistan is also planning to launch its own diplomatic and legal campaign to reclaim from Britain pieces of its national heritage taken during the same period. Before partition in 1947, what is now Pakistan was then part of British-ruled India. The Indian plea to Britain was made on June 1 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the government agency responsible for the historical monuments and artefacts. It follows decades of unsuccessful lobbying by India.
Gautam Sengupta, the director general of the ASI, said India will launch a campaign with the support of Unesco - the UN's cultural, scientific and educational body - and other countries to reclaim their historical riches from Britain. "As efforts so far to reclaim stolen treasures have proved futile, Unesco support is required for launching an international campaign to achieve this end," said Mr Sengupta.
"Not only India - various other countries like Mexico, Peru, China, Bolivia, Cyprus and Guatemala have also voiced the same concern to get back their stolen and looted antiquities and to join the international campaign." Mr Sengupta declined to comment on whether there will be efforts to include Pakistan in the international campaign. Experts say the innumerable number of artefacts in both public and private museums in Britain has remained the biggest hurdle for governments - like India's - to reclaim them.
Suresh Kumar, a New Delhi-based antiques collector, said governments "have to pick, choose and pursue" artefacts individually rather than all at once because of the legal complexities of each individual case, prolonging the task of retrieving them. He suggested that governments should encourage private parties to come forward and buy artefacts of national importance during auctions at museums as a way of getting the objects back into local hands.
Among the artefacts that India is looking to take back from British museums is the centuries-old Koh-i-Noor diamond, which was taken from Lahore in Pakistan; the Badshahnama, a historical document that belonged to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan; a figure of the mythical Huma bird that was part of the throne of Tipu Sultan, the king of Mysore; and the throne of Ranjit Singh, who was the king of Punjab.
But Akhilesh Mittal, a historian and columnist for New Delhi's Sunday Guardian newspaper, said the disputed ownership of the artefacts was just a tactic by the British. "If that had been the case, there was no reason why the British would not return Greek Elgin Marbles because of its sole ownership," he said. Mr Mittal, who wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth in 2007 asking her to return relics taken from India, said the artefacts have none of the historical and emotional significance for the British that they do for Indians. "Most of the objects are held like prisoners of war. They mean nothing to the British; they are important to Indians."
Pakistan is also embarking on a campaign of its own to have historical objects returned. The culture minister Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Jilani said his country will prepare a list of artefacts and will take up the matter with British authorities. Pakistan made a similar but unsuccessful attempt in 1979. "We haven't taken up the issue for some time, but certainly it has remained Pakistan's long-standing demand that Britain returns all the cultural and historical artefacts to their legal owners," said Mr Jilani.
"We will certainly seek the return of these artefacts from the British." Both India and Pakistan have individually made several unsuccessful attempts in the past to reclaim historical artefacts from Britain. The UK maintains that the artefacts have been legally acquired by them and British laws do not allow them to return it to the country - or countries, in this case - of origin. Mr Jilani said better results could be achieved if Pakistan worked with other countries, apparently including India, who are also looking to take artefacts back from Britain.
"We are a party to all those artefacts taken away by the British during colonial rule. It's the people of this region that have the right to keep the artefacts. We will approach other countries whose national treasures are lying with Britain to make our case stronger. Many historians agree that India and Pakistan stand a better chance by pooling their efforts. "Both the countries can evolve a system of sharing and exhibiting these artefacts on a mutually agreed platform," said Rajat Dutta, a professor of history at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
"Whether India and Pakistan agree or disagree for political reasons … both the countries share a common history."
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Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
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Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (Dirt) 1,600m; Winner: RB Kings Bay, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi (jockey), Helal Al Alawi (trainer)
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: AF Ensito, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
