2 Pakistanis amid over 100 peacekeepers to be honoured by UN

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations is set to honour at a solemn ceremony on Thursday the sacrifices of more than one hundred peacekeepers including 2 Pakistanis who paid the ultimate price in serving the cause of peace in hot spots around the world last year.

The ceremony is being held to mark the annual International Day of UN Peacekeepers. Commemorative activities will be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York and at peacekeeping operations and offices around the world.

Currently nearly 85,000 military personnel 12,000 police officers as well as 17,000 international civilian and national staff are serving in 16 peacekeeping operations on four continents.

Pakistan is among the largest contributors to peacekeeping with more than 8,000 military and police personnel serving in the UN operations in Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, Sudan and Western Sahara.

The fallen Pakistan Army soldiers are Subedar Tanveer Hussain (MONUSCO Democratic Republic of Congo) and Major Kamran Khalil (UNMIL Liberia).

In a message to mark the Day Secretary General Ban Ki moon said 106 peacekeepers perished last year carrying out their sacred duty while serving under the UN flag bringing the total number of lives lost in the history of peacekeeping to more than 3,200. We mourn the passing of every one of these courageous individuals. We grieve with their friends and families and we recommit ourselves to ensure that their contribution in the cause of peace will never be forgotten he said.

United Nations peacekeeping is modernizing to ensure that it can tackle tomorrow s peace and security challenges. It is deploying new technologies such as unarmed unmanned aerial vehicles refining its practices to better protect civilians and boosting the representation of women among its ranks while strengthening its partnerships with regional organizations.

Herve Ladsous Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations said Today we honour those who have lost their lives while serving on our peacekeeping operations.Our courageous peacekeepers who made this ultimate sacrifice did so so that others could have a better life. I express my deepest and most sincere condolences to the families and friends of those we honour today. We honour their memory and pay tribute to their dedication.