ISLAMABAD
Pakistan hopes its "stolen" artifacts recovered by the Italian police in Rome recently will soon be returned, a senior Pakistani official said Wednesday.
The artifacts belong to the thousands-of-years-old Mehrgarh civilization in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The recovered items include pottery, beads, and small figurines.
According to a statement issued Wednesday by the Balochistan government, the items were stolen from the province last year and the Italian police recovered them in a raid in Rome only last Monday.
"This is very good news for us," Balochistan Chief Minister Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch was quoted as saying.
Baloch said the Pakistani Embassy in Rome was already in touch with the Italian authorities and he hoped the recovered artifacts would return home soon.
Local historians consider Mehrgarh as one of the oldest civilizations on Earth. Its history is said to go back at least eight thousand years old. Its ruins are located in Balochistan’s Bolan district.
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