The french authorities on Tuesday handed over nearly 450 stolen artifacts to Pakistan some dating as far back as 4,000 BC that were seized by the french customs over a decade ago. The pieces turned up in France in September 2006 in a parcel addressed to a gallery in Paris.
The packages were inspected at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport and identified by the National Center for Scientific Research as items looted from cemeteries in Pakistan’s Indus valley. Two weeks later another parcel with around 100 more ceramic pieces, destined for the same gallery was seized during a search of unnamed gallery premises. With an estimated value of 139,000 euros ($157,000), 445 relics were handed back in a ceremony held in the Pakistan embassy in Paris.
“It is indeed a special moment for Pakistan,” said Muhammad Majad Aziz Qazi, the head of mission. “It is also an emotional moment for us. We believe, today, that a part of Pakistan’s heritage is coming back to its homeland.”
The items handed back included a series of beautifully decorated pots, plates, bowls jars and vases with various motifs of animals and plants. Aurore Didier, head of France’s archaeological mission in the Indus basin, said the ceramics were excavated illegally from graveyards representing two different cultures : The Nal (3100-2700 BC), and the Kulli (2600-1900 BC).
The objects will be shipped back to Pakistan within a few weeks although it is not clear as of now where they will be displayed.
