UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday thanked UN member states including Pakistan for contributing troops to its global peacekeeping missions.

"Our special thanks go to the top contributors: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Nigeria. Together, these nations have contributed nearly half of the UN Peacekeepers," he said in a message marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, observed today.

This year, the annual occasion also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the start of the United Nations Peacekeeping operations.

"Peacekeeping has developed into a flagship enterprise of our organization. Today, we have more than 110,000 men and women deployed in conflict zones around the world. They come from nearly 120 countries -- an all time high, reflecting confidence in UN Peacekeeping," Ban said.

Pakistan is among the largest troop contributors, with nearly 10,000 soldiers in various UN Peacekeeping missions around the world.

Later on Thursday, UN officials were due to gather at the world body’s headquarters in New York for a wreath-laying ceremony to honour more than 2,400 blue helmets ... including 90 last year ... who have died in service.

Under secretary general for Peacekeeping operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno will lead the ceremony, which will also be marked by a series of activities at UN offices and peacekeeping operations around the world. Guéhenno will award the Dag Hammarskjöld medal posthumously to military, police and civilian personnel who died last year while serving in UN operations.

Two fallen peacekeepers from Pakistan are among those honoured; Captain Pervaiz Mehdi who died while serving with the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI) in February 2007 and Inspector Zia Muhammad Khan who was killed while serving with the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in May 2007. app


Daily Times