ISLAMABAD:Prime Minister (PM) Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that Pakistani soldiers had rendered excellent services in the UN Peacekeeping, including the sacrifice of life in the most complex and dangerous conflict zones.
In a tweet, the PM said as the eight Pakistani peacekeepers were honoured posthumously on the completion of 75 years of the United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Mission, Pakistan was proud of being one of the largest contributors to the peace missions under the UN’s umbrella.
“We are proud of our peacekeepers for their unprecedented commitment to duty,” he added.
On May 25, the UN honoured at a solemn ceremony 103 military, police and civilian personnel from around the world, including eight Pakistani peacekeepers, who lost their lives serving under the UN flag last year.
The special ceremony was presided over by Secretary-General (SG) Antonio Guterres which marked the 75th anniversary of UN peacekeeping.
In the ceremony, the Dag Hammarskjold Medal was awarded posthumously to the peacekeepers, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of peace, during the preceding year.
According to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) foreign correspondent news report, Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Aamir Khan accepted the awards on behalf of the families of the fallen Pakistani peacekeepers — Havildar Muhammad Ismail, Major Faizan Ali, Lt. Col Asif Ali Awan, Naib Subedar Sami Ullah Khan, Major Muhammad Saad Nomani, and Lance Havildar Muhammad Jamil Khan — the six martyred while serving with the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) when their helicopter crashed on March 29, 2022.
Moreover, Havildar Babar Siddique lost his life while also serving in MONUSCO and Corporal Rana Muhammad Tahir Islam, who was working with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan is currently the fifth largest contributor to UN peacekeeping with nearly 4,200 military and police personnel serving in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, South Sudan and Western Sahara.