ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Defence was informed on Thursday that Pakistan was likely to join the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the committee that the UN had requested Pakistan to contribute in its peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

“The UN request is under process and Pakistan is likely to join the mission in Darfur,” he said. Committee Chairman Nisar Memon organised the special briefing in connection with the 60th UN Peacekeeping Day. Maj Gen Abbas said Pakistan had been on the forefront in international peacekeeping missions across the globe and had always provided maximum support to maintain peace and stability in the world. He said 98 Pakistani soldiers had so far sacrificed their lives for this cause.

He said Pakistan was the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping missions as its contribution accounted for 12 percent of the total peacekeepers across the world.

Presently, he said, total deployment of Pakistan Army included eight major peacekeeping missions and nine observer missions, which meant 10,705 peacekeepers in 14 countries. Nisar Memon said peace was must for human development and the UN role in peacekeeping was well accepted and acknowledged.

The message of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was also read out in the meeting in which he thanked the UN member states, especially Pakistan, for contributing troops to peacekeeping missions around the globe.


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there is no need,better we stay out of it,we have enough trouble at home to handal

Wow, I was not fully aware of the extent of our peacekeeping.

If you look at western media, they will make such a big deal about tiny peace keeping missions, how they are civilizing and helping the rest of the savage world.

But Pakistan has been doing the most and not taking the credit at all.

Darfur is the worst place on earth right now. People raping and killing mothers, stealing their sons, making them kill others as children, brainwashing them, cutting off people's arms and legs to warn others. Its disgusting and horrifying. On the one hand something has to be done. On the other hand, sending our soldiers into that hellhole doesn't seem like a good idea.

UN Peacekeeping operations dont even involve interefering or fighting, so you can't even protect a civilian being killed in front of you. They just go into a certain area, report what is happening and are only allowed to return fire if they are fired upon first.

Honestly its disturbing to think about, I don't even know what a proper solution would be. We have seen recently that invading a country by force doesn't guarentee peace either.

Peacemaking would be the other solution...b!tch slap both sides to stop fighting. Given that Pakistan has been on the bad side of both Taliban and NATO, I don't think it'd be too much of a problem for us to be "aggressively neutral". If peacemaking was the way, I guarantee you a separate U.N. military would be the biggest arms spender...imagine stopping Iraqi insurgents and U.S. troops.

It is a noble thing to do and we should do it. As muslims we should look out for the interests of fellow Muslim states and thier inhabitants.

If we are peacekeepers and the Sudanese government is at fault, then we know, if the rebels are at fault, then we know and we can help resolve the issue.