Message of the Foreign Minister on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

May 29,2018

On the occasion of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, we join the United Nations in commemorating the contributions and sacrifices of those remarkable men and women working under the UN flag for the maintenance of international peace and security.
We pay tribute to those 3,700 peacekeepers including from Pakistan who have given the ultimate sacrifice serving the cause of world peace since the establishment of the first peacekeeping mission in 1948.
Pakistan has demonstrated an abiding commitment to the United Nations and its flagship work in the area of peacekeeping. Pakistan has continued to be a lead troop-contributing country. Since 1960, over 172,000 of Pakistani troops and uniformed personnel have served with professionalism and distinction in 43 UN missions, 26 countries and in almost all continents of the world.
Pakistan is proud of its role in some of the notable successes of peacekeeping namely Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste and Liberia. 156 Pakistani peacekeepers lost their lives in the cause of world peace.
Pakistan is also host to one of the UN’s first peacekeeping missions, UNMOGIP, which continues to monitor the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, a task, which we greatly value as a contribution to peace and security in our region.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the United Nations Peacekeeping. In the past seven decades, the concept of peacekeeping has evolved progressively. Going forward, it would need to adapt itself to the changing nature of conflict, while adhering to the fundamentals of peacekeeping.
Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s deserves our appreciation for his initiative, ‘Action for Peacekeeping’, aimed at mobilizing all partners and stakeholders to make United Nations peacekeeping fit for purpose.
On this occasion, we reaffirm our commitment to the principles and purposes of the UN charter including our resolve to continue making our contribution to the promotion of international peace through active participation in UN peacekeeping missions.