Iran wants Pakistan to hand over an ancient mummy recently discovered in the Pakistani border province of Baluchistan, press reports said Sunday.
Iranian media identified the 2,600-year-old mummy as the remains of an Achaemenian prince although reports from Pakistan said it was a princess who could have originated in Egypt or Iran.
"If this mummy does turn out to be an Iranian prince, we will take steps with Pakistan to get it returned," the state national heritage organization said in a statement published in newspapers.
State television here has shown images, which are clearly of a prince, in a sarcophagus bearing images of Ahura-Mazda, the god of Zoroastrianism, the ancient state religion.
Archaeologist Ahmed Hasan Dani of Islamabad's Quaid-e-Azam University, who examined the mummy, told AFP in Pakistan last week that it was "still a mystery whether it is Egyptian or Iranian."
The mummy was found in the possession of a tribal leader who was arrested along with another man. Both are facing a maximum penalty of 10 years jail, Pakistani police told AFP – TEHRAN (AFP)
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