NEW YORK: The United Nations Thursday honoured at a solemn ceremony 103 military, police and civilian personnel from around the world, including eight Pakistani peacekeepers, who lost their lives serving under the U.N. flag last year.
The special ceremony, presided over by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, marked the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping at which the Dag Hammarskjold Medal was awarded posthumously to the peacekeepers, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of peace, during the preceding year.
Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Aamir Khan, accepted the awards on behalf of the families of the fallen Pakistani peacekeepers — Havildar Muhammad Ismail, Major Faizan Ali, Lt. Col Asif Ali Awan, Naib Subedar Sami Ullah Khan, Major Muhammad Saad Nomani, and Lance Havildar Muhammad Jamil Khan — the six martyred while serving with the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) when their helicopter crashed on March 29, 2022.
In addition, Havildar Babar Siddique lost his life while also serving in MONUSCO and Corporal Rana Muhammad Tahir Islam, who was working with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
Pakistan is currently the 5th largest contributor to UN peacekeeping with nearly 4,200 military and police personnel serving in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, South Sudan and Western Sahara.
The Secretary-General also presented the 2022 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award to Captain Cecilia Erzuah, a military officer from Ghana who served with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).
Created in 2016, the Award “recognizes the dedication and effort of an individual peacekeeper in promoting the principles of UN Security Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security”. –Agencies
