Nazia Nazar
INTERNATIONAL Day of UN Peacekeepers is ob
served on 29 May; on this day, tributes are paid to those
people who have immensely contributed in the work done by the United Nations. Furthermore, over 3,900 people including both civilian and army who have lost their lives while serving the UN are also remembered on this day. Pakistani peacekeeper Sepoy Amir Aslam, who had served in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been posthumously awarded the Dag Hammarskjold medal on Friday. The award was given by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a virtual ceremony held on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York. At least 157 Pakistani service members have lost their lives during these operations but Islamabad remains committed to helping the UN in building peace and restoring stability in turbulent regions. The theme of International Day of UN Peacekeepers 2020 is “Women in Peacekeeping: A Key to Peace”. This theme has been chosen as it is the 20th anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Recently, Pakistan deployed a female infantry engagement team of its army in the Congo. People in relevant policy circles are now realizing that the deployment of women officials is crucial and effective in addressing the problems faced by the women of the region. The dedicated service of these troopers has not only won them laurels, but has also been valuable in enhancing Pakistan’s image and soft power to the extent that UN peacekeeping missions are considered synonymous with Pakistani troops. The only thing missing now, is a comprehensive strategy to build upon this soft power reserve and use it to project Pakistan’s contribution toward world peace and stability.
This year, the United Nations celebrates the 72nd anniversary of UN peacekeeping. The first UN peacekeeping mission was established on 29 May 1948, when the Security Council authorized the deployment of a small number of UN military observers to the Middle East to form the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours. At a ceremony held in May 2016, the United Nations honoured five Pakistani soldiers for their sacrifices, among over 137 peacekeepers who laid down their lives while serving the cause of peace around the world. On 29 May, commemorative activities are held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, and at peacekeeping operations and offices around the world. Today, UN peacekeeping deploys 125,000 including 91,000 military personnel, 13,000 police officers as well as 17000 international civilian staff that are serving in 16 operations on four continents. UN peacekeeping operations receive contributions of military and police personnel from 124 Member States as well as critical equipment to sustain the operations. At the present, Pakistan’s troops and advisors are involved in peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Liberia, Sudan and Western Sahara etc. Pakistan envisages a world, which is free of want, hunger and deprivation – a world where justice and fair play govern the affairs of human beings, and inequality, oppression and war are abhorred. Pakistan has put this vision into practice by making significant contributions to the principles and objectives of the UN Charter, in particular the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security, as a member of the Security Council and through its contribution to UN Peacekeeping. Two years ago Pakistan was one of the largest troop contributors, constituting over 9% of UN’s total deployment.
Pakistan is also the sixth largest police contributor. COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa has reaffirmed its commitment to peacekeeping operations of the UN in various conflict zones. The role Pakistan played in UN Peacekeeping Missions in Congo, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Darfur, Haiti, Kosovo and Western Sahara has greatly been appreciated. Pakistan has actively participated in UN endeavours to establish peace in conflict zones since the 60’s with the first deployment of its peacekeeping troops in the Congo to provide logistics support for the movement of UN troops. Afterwards, Pakistan sent its troops in aid of various UN peacekeeping missions around the world. Pakistani military and police personnel have taken up with a variety of roles in these UN missions ranging from acting as an operational force tasked with securing and establishing law and order in Somalia, New Guinea, Bosnia and Sudan, and assisting UN officials in power transitions particularly in Namibia, Cambodia and Sierra Leone. In 2018, Pakistani peacekeepers constituted the world’s fifth-largest contingent with more than 6,000 military and police force officials. Pakistani troops are currently deployed in the Congo, the Central African Republic and Sudan’s Darfur region. In these three regions, Pakistani troops are involved in establishing and enforcing protocols to protect civilians while on the other hand, also facilitating political processes and delivering humanitarian aid. The diversity of these roles under the UN mandate further illustrates the complicated and sensitive nature of these operations, as armed forces personnel are not only expected to take up civilian governance responsibilities in coordination with relevant UN bodies, but also to simultaneously establish a semblance of law and order while not indulging in kinetic operations. Fulfilling these tasks requires intensive planning and organization work alongside intelligence gathering and rapport building with the local population.
—The writer is a freelance columnist, based in Finland.
