United Nations on Friday awarded posthumous awards to five Pakistani peacekeepers who laid down their lives while serving the cause of peace around the world in 2014
In a solemn ceremony held at the United Nations today, five Pakistani peacekeepers who had embraced shahadat for the cause of world peace during the last year, were posthumously awarded the Dag Hammarskjold Medal by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Ambassador Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, received the medals. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon especially thanked Pakistan for its contributions to UN peacekeeping. He conveyed this while speaking to Ambassador Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, during the wreath laying ceremony.
The Dag Hammarskjold award for our five servicemen who lost their lives to save other people’s lives pic.twitter.com/fy4RFfoBUK
— Maleeha Lodhi (@LodhiMaleeha) May 29, 2015
Recipients of the prestigious award were Naib Subedar Saleem Akhtar, Lance Havaldar Ghulam Nabi, Sepoy Nazar Abbas, Lance Naik Ibrar Mahmood and Sepoy Fahad Iftikhar. “Their sacrifice, and the way that they lived their lives, makes us all proud and spurs us on to work harder to ensure that their lives were not lost in vain” said the Secretary General speaking at the ceremony.
Accepting the award for the 5 Pakistani peacekeepers who lost their lives. May Allah grant them a place in Jannat pic.twitter.com/HkOifsGVRW — Maleeha Lodhi (@LodhiMaleeha) May 29, 2015
Pakistan, with more than 8,000 peacekeepers currently serving in UN Peacekeeping Missions around the world, remains one of the top two contributors. Pakistan has, over the past 55 years, contributed over 150,000 well-trained personnel, with 142 of its valiant troops making the ultimate sacrifice. Pakistan has a significant stake in the success of UN peacekeeping and its participation is the most tangible contribution to maintenance of international peace and security.
Observing a moment of silence for the 126 #peacekeepers killed in the cause of peace in 2014 #PKday #Together4Peace pic.twitter.com/DJtZtviNn4
— UN Peacekeeping (@UNPeacekeeping) May 29, 2015
Currently, 125,000 UN peacekeepers, including 91,000 military personnel, 13,000 police officers as well as 17,000 international civilian and national staff are serving in 16 operations on four continents.
Pakistan is the second largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping mission with 8,163 personnel including 7,581 troops, 487 police officials and 95 military experts serving in the UN operations in the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Liberia, Sudan and Western Sahara.