UN honored six Pakistani peacekeepers who sacrificed their lives serving under the UN flag in 2021
The United Nations on Thursday honored six Pakistani peacekeepers along with 117 other military, police, and civilian personnel from 42 countries, who sacrificed their lives serving under the UN flag last year.
The solemn ceremony held at the UN headquarters was chaired by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and marked the annual International Day of UN Peacekeepers in which the ‘Dag Hammarskjold Medal’ was awarded posthumously to the peacekeepers, who lost their lives for the cause of peace, during the previous year.
Fallen Pakistani soldiers who were honored
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Munir Akram, accepted the awards on behalf of the families of the following six Pakistani peacekeepers who got martyred in the line of duty:
- Police Lance Corporal Tahir Ikram (UNAMID in Darfur)
- Police Lance Corporal Adil Jan (UNAMID in Darfur)
- Havildar Muhammad Nil Naeem (UNAMID in Darfur)
- Havildar Muhammad Shafeeq (military) from UN Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA)
- Tahir Mehmood (military), deployed with UN Stabilisation Mission in Congo (MONUSCO)
- Abrar Sayed who served in a civilian capacity with MINURSO
“I feel deeply honored and proud on receiving these awards on behalf of six fallen Pakistani peacekeepers,” Pakistani Ambassador told APP after the ceremony. “There is a steadfast resolve on Pakistan’s part to build upon the glorious past to achieve shared goals of peace and security,” he added.
Pakistan is the fifth-largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. It currently deploys more than 4,100 military and police personnel to the UN operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, Congo, and Mali, South Sudan and Western Sahara.
Since 1960, over 200,000 Pakistani men and women have served with honour and valour in 46 UN Missions in almost all continents of the world.
“As one of the top troop-contributing countries, Pakistan deeply values the vital role played by the blue helmets in maintaining security and stability in many conflict-ridden areas around the world, “ the Foreign Office said in a statement.
UN chief: “Peace can never be taken for granted’
Speaking at the occasion, the UN chief highlighted that the world body was honouring more than one million women and men, who had served as UN peacekeepers since 1948. “We pay tribute to the nearly 4,200 heroes and heroines, who sacrificed their lives in the cause of peace,” he said.
“And we are reminded an age-old truth: Peace can never be taken for granted. Peace is the prize,” he said. “We are deeply grateful to the 87,000 civilian, police and military personnel now serving under the UN flag, who are helping to realize the prize of peace worldwide.”
International Day of UN Peacekeepers
May 29 was declared as the International Day of UN Peacekeepers by the UNGA in commemoration of the day in 1948 when the UN’s first peacekeeping mission began operations in Palestine. More than one million women and men have served in 72 UN operations till now.
The theme for this year’s observance of the day is “People. Peace. Progress. The Power of Partnerships.”