United Nations deputy secretary general all praise for Pakistan peacekeepers

UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL ALL PRAISE FOR PAKISTAN PEACEKEEPERS

NEW YORK: United Nations Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson praised on Thursday Pakistani peacekeepers for their service under the UN flag in hot spots around the world. He said they had made valuable contribution in maintaining peace as well as helping communities suffering from war.

“The United Nations is deeply grateful to Pakistan for its continued commitment and unflinching support,” Eliasson told a large gathering of diplomats, military attaches and senior UN officials at an event organised by the Pakistan Mission to the UN to commemorate Pakistani Peacekeepers Day. The day marks the June 5, 1993, incident in Somalia when 24 Pakistani peacekeepers laid down their lives while rescuing allied forces in Mogadishu. On that day, 19 US troops also lost their lives.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, who especially flew in from Washington, also spoke at the event which was hosted by Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi. The foreign secretary said Pakistan is proud to be associated with UN peacekeeping, the world body’s flagship activity, saying the Pakistani people support the principles that the organisation stands for and promotes. The Thursday’s event featured a photo exhibition depicting Pakistani peacekeepers at work in a number of UN Missions since Pakistan’s first deployment more than 50 years ago.

In his remarks, Eliasson, who holds the number two position at the UN, also honoured the sacrifices of those Pakistani peacekeepers who paid the ultimate price over the years in serving the cause of peace. “Tragically, 142 military, police and civilian peacekeepers from Pakistan have lost their lives in serving the cause of peace - a tragic reminder of the human cost in fulfilling the mandates of the United Nations in ever more dangerous situations.”

Pakistani men and women serve in seven peacekeeping missions including Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur, Haiti and Central African Republic. With over 8,000 troops serving in these missions, Pakistan is among the highest contributors to UN peacekeeping operations. Overall, 125,000 UN peacekeepers, including 91,000 military personnel, 13,000 police officers as well as 17,000 international civilian and national staff serving on four continents, doing everything from clearing landmines and delivering aid to helping refugees and supporting free and fair elections.

The UN deputy secretary general called Pakistan “one of the most consistent and effective providers of troops and police for the UN”, and said since its first deployment in Congo more than a half a century ago, the country has sent personnel to 35 missions. “We count on Pakistan to maintain that same spirit of cooperation and solidarity for many years to come.”

Foreign Secretary Chaudhry said that the UN was highly respected in Pakistan for its contribution to world peace. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s continued commitment to UN Peacekeeping. “We consider it a central plank of our foreign policy and our most tangible contribution to world peace.” He also paid tributes to Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi for her hard work at the UN, and in bringing good name to Pakistan. In her welcome address, Ambassador Lodhi paid high tributes to five of Pakistan’s peacekeepers who lost their lives last year defending international peace and security. Pakistan, she said, remains one of the UN’s largest troop contributing countries. It has been one of the oldest, largest, and most consistent participants in UN peacekeeping operations.

She said, “We have also witnessed the positive contribution of UN observers and peacekeepers in our own region, as testified by the presence of UNMOGIP. This contribution remains relevant and essential.” Pakistani peacekeepers, she added, have not only saved lives but also acted as caregivers and contributed to the development of the countries they served in. “The contribution of the Pakistani contingent in the fight against Ebola in Liberia is only the latest example of their selfless and often hazardous work,” she added

Ambassador Lodhi appreciated the important role played by women in peacekeeping operations and said that Pakistan was proud of its female officers who had served as doctors and nurses in difficult and dangerous operations.

Pakistan to continue serving United Nation ‘noble cause’

PAKISTAN TO CONTINUE SERVING UNITED NATION  ‘NOBLE CAUSE’

UNITED NATIONS - Pakistan, one of the top contributors to UN peacekeeping, told the first-ever United Nations Chiefs of Defence Conference on Friday that it will keep contributing to world body’s flagship activity aimed at helping to build a peaceful world.

“Pakistan is committed to the noble cause of peacekeeping,” Lt.

Gen.

Ghayur Ahmed Awan, leader of the Pakistan delegation, said.

The historic conference brought together chiefs of defence and senior military officials from more than 100 Member States to discuss issues central to UN Peacekeeping as part of a wider process of engagement by the UN with member states to expand the peacekeeping partnership and promote effective and efficient implementation of mandates.

The Indian delegation was represented by Army Chief Gen.

Dabir Singh Suhag. Several participants said they were looking forward to meeting Pakistan’s Army Chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, and expressed disappointment that he could not come to the conference.

Held in the ECOSOC Chamber, the conference was opened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, and Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, also spoke.

In his intervention, Gen.

Awan said that 160,000 Pakistani personnel in 42 UN peacekeeping missions around the world had served the UN since 1960. “Pakistani men and women have served with distinction and professionalism in one of the most difficult and demanding environments,” he said.

Over the past five decades, 142 Pakistani peacekeepers have made supreme sacrifice while serving the United Nations peacekeeping missions, he told military delegates packing ECOSOC Chamber.

Gen.

Awan said Pakistan was firm supporter of the basic principles of peacekeeping - impartiality, consent of all parties and non-use of force except in self-defence and in the defence of mandate.

”We believe that, there is no room for addition, deletion, alternation or amendment within their scope and interpretation of these principles.

”

Pakistan, he said, was of the view that UN peacekeeping requires genuine partnership between the Security Council, the troop contributing countries and the UN Secretariat during mandate formulation its renewal or closing of the missions.

Gen.

Awan also supported the UN efforts for providing latest technology keeping in view the basic principles of peacekeeping to the UN troops to add to their performance on ground.

  In his remarks, Ban, the UN chief, told the gathered soldiers that threats to peacekeepers were on the rise, with more deaths year-on-year now than ever before.

“Before 2000, there were four times when more than 100 peacekeepers lost their lives in a single year.

Since then, we have suffered that tragic toll ten times.

Consecutively, 10 times.

”

After a moment of silence was marked for fallen peacekeepers, the secretary-general went on to stress the dangers faced by UN peacekeepers as they protect innocent lives “on the front lines of human misery” in some of the world’s most dangerous places.

“Over the past two decades, the Security Council has given peacekeepers increasingly challenging mandates,” he said, pointing to Mali and Central African Republic.

“Even in traditionally static missions, such as UNDOF, in the Golan Heights, there can be sudden changes in the operating environment.

”

The role of peacekeeping was first and foremost to protect civilians from violence, he said, adding that they also helped with stabilisation, the extension of state authority, strengthening of the rule of law, addressing gender equality and protecting human rights.

“With such diverse responsibilities, peacekeepers can bring comprehensive stability – when they have the right capabilities and political will to succeed,” the secretary-general said.

“The needs are rising – but the resources fall short.

I have appointed a High-Level Independent Panel to address the serious difficulties we face.

”

More than 130,000 military, police and civilian staff from around the world serve in the UN’s 16 peacekeeping operations.

He said peacekeepers should be able to rapidly deploy into active conflicts that may escalate at any moment, with capacity to move peacekeepers quickly and safely to where they are most needed, and with intelligence capabilities and other support to enable them to fulfil their mandates

“This is our largest deployment in history.

It must be matched by a stronger international partnership for peacekeeping,” he said.

“Peacekeeping is a shared global responsibility that advances the world’s common interests.

”

Closing the Conference, the Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, said that peacekeeping operations remain one of the Security Council’s most substantive and dynamic tools to respond to conflict and post-conflict situations.

“When peacekeeping missions are deployed in post-conflict situations, countries are 50 per cent less likely to experience renewed conflict,” he said.

“This saves lives, protects infrastructure and fosters development.

”

He pointed to the UN’s efforts to adapt its approach to peacekeeping in the face of evolving demands through the Peace Operations Review, which Eliasson said was expected to provide appropriate options and concepts for the future but he added that peacekeeping had a “timeless purpose” at its heart.

The deputy secretary-general talked of the role played by peacekeeping missions in promoting successful transition to sustainable peace and inclusive governance, and to protecting civilians.

He also drew attention to the “new and diverse ways” in which peacekeepers were being deployed in different contexts.

“The Security Council’s high expectations and great demands testify to its faith in peacekeeping as a tool for maintaining international peace and security,” Eliasson said.

“We hope we will also be given the necessary resources to meet these demands.

”

He called on the gathered military officers to provide the capabilities needed to fulfil peacekeeping mandates, to unite politically behind peacekeeping missions and to continue working towards a common understanding of peacekeeping and to build support for it.

“We hope that your governments will continue to engage actively in this renewed international dialogue on peacekeeping,” he said.

“The risks in peacekeeping will always be high.

The stakes are life-and-death.

When we succeed, we prove to the world’s most vulnerable people that, fundamentally, the most powerful soldiers are those without enemies.

We show that true strength is built on universal values laid down in the UN Charter.

”

Enemies Of Islam Not Welcome the Peacekeeping ?

ENEMIES OF ISLAM NOT WELCOME THE PEACEKEEPING ?

November 5, 2014: Since World War II the UN peacekeeping operations have become more numerous and more useful in bringing peace (at least more peace than usual) to many unruly parts of the world. But now the UN peacekeepers are increasingly under attack by Islamic terrorists. The Islamic radicals have no interest in peace as they are on a Mission From God and the UN is considered an enemy of Islam, even if the peacekeepers under fire are Moslem.

As a result of this growing use of Islamic terrorism against UN personnel it has become more dangerous to be a peacekeeper. Despite the increasing Islamic terror attacks the UN's peacekeeping army of 110,000-140,000 troops still suffers less than a hundred combat deaths a year. More than ten times that number are wounded, injured in accidents, or disabled by disease. The peacekeeper combat fatalities come out to 90-110 per 100,000 troops per year. In Afghanistan foreign troops lost about 350-450 in 2012. At the peak of the fighting (2005-7) in Iraq, the losses were 500-600 per 100,000. The rate for U.S. troops in Vietnam and World War II was about 1,500 per 100,000 troops. So the UN peacekeepers are often seeing some considerable violence but at less than a third of the rate of troops in actual contemporary wars and much less than in 20th century conflicts.

But it’s not the casualties that are causing the biggest problem but the increase in deliberate attacks and, to put it bluntly, the use of terror against the peacekeepers. This has made more countries reluctant to supply peacekeepers, especially Moslem countries, whose troops are accused of being heretics (and not just “enemies of Islam”) by Islamic terrorists and their many supporters among the Moslem population being protected. Most of the peacekeepers have come from South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal) and many of these are Moslem. Pakistan has been one of the most frequent contributors, sending 144,711 troops to 41 UN peacekeeping operations in 23 countries over the last half century. They suffered a death rate of 92 per 100,000. That’s lower than usual for peacekeepers, in large part because the South Asian troops tend to be among the best trained and most professional in the UN force.

It’s not just the growing terrorism that is causing difficulty in getting more troops for peacekeeping duty. While the casualties have something to do with this, corruption and lack of success are more often discouraging countries from contributing. The corruption angle is interesting, as it pertains both to the corruption within the UN bureaucracy and the corrupt atmosphere the peacekeepers operate in and often succumb to. Then there is the criticism of how the UN manages these missions. Casualties are expected but the contributing countries feel a lot of their troop losses are the result of restrictive UN rules that limit what peacekeepers can do. This, in turn, is believed most responsible for a lack of success for the peacekeeping missions.

India and Pakistan are not happy with the lack of volunteers from other major nations. The chief reasons for that are the same ones annoying the current peacekeepers (corruption and restrictive rules of engagement). In addition, the major military powers (with the exception of China and Russia) feel they already contribute quite a lot in the form of money to pay the peacekeepers. And the contributors are also upset at the lack of results.

Over the last decade the UN has spent $7-10 billion a year on 13-20 peacekeeping operations supported each year. Most of the money comes from the West but a lot of it comes from wealthy (usually because of oil) Moslem nations. To Islamic terrorists that makes the peacekeepers lackeys of the non-Moslem West and Arab “enemies of Islam”. The money pays for the peacekeepers and a smaller support staff. It's actually a pretty cheap way of keeping some conflicts under control. The causes of the unrest may not be resolved by peacekeepers but at least the problem is contained and doesn't bother the rest of the world too much. This is an increasingly unpopular approach to peacekeeping, except in the UN bureaucracy. Many UN members would rather send peacekeepers to where they are not wanted (by the government, usually a bad one that is often the cause of the trouble in the first place) and use some UN approved violence to go after the people responsible for the local mess and end the seemingly endless violence in some areas.

Most of the money is going to a few large peacekeeping operations. Three of the largest get over half the cash and for over a decade this has been Congo, Darfur (western Sudan), and southern Sudan. Africa has the largest number of "failed states" on the planet and, as such, is most in need of outside security assistance. The Middle East is also a source of much unrest. But there the problem isn't a lack of government, just bad government. Most Middle Eastern nations are run by tyrants, who have created police states that at least keep anarchy at bay and peacekeepers out.

Religion has become a touchy subject. While Islamic radicalism is more of a problem to fellow Moslems than it is to infidels (non-Moslems), most Middle Eastern governments avoid blaming Islam for these problems. Since it's increasing difficult to pin the blame on "colonialism" or "crusaders," the Middle Eastern nations encourage other UN members to just stay away from the religious angle altogether. This has made it difficult to deal with peacekeeping issues in Moslem nations, since religion usually plays a part in creating the problem. To the UN, this is just another diplomatic problem to be dealt with, although not very well.

But overall the troops and money that keep all the peacekeeping going are in danger of fading away. Frantic diplomacy is underway by the UN to try and makes things all better, but success is not assured and every year there’s the same drama as cash shortages threaten to shut down many peacekeeping operations.

Pakistan playing key role in UN peacekeeping missions says Nawaz sharif

PAKISTAN PLAYING KEY ROLE IN UN PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS SAYS NAWAZ SHARIF

NEW YORK: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday addressed the United Nations peacekeeping summit during which he said Pakistan was playing a key role in the organization’s peacekeeping missions and expressed the country's resolve to continue with the efforts.

Sharif also paid tribute to those who had sacrificed their lives in the fight against terrorism and said Pakistan was willing to provide training for the UN peacekeeping missions.

He also called for the expansion of the domain of talks between members of the peacekeeping mission.

The premier said that 140 military personnel of the country had lost their lives while serving with the UN peace corps, adding that Pakistan had also sent its troops to the Central African Republic on the call of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

He further said that Pakistan had been serving the United Nations peacekeeping missions since 1960.

Earlier, Nawaz Sharif met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.

According to a statement released by Ban's office, the UN Secretary-General offered his condolences to Sharif for the victims of the recent floods in Pakistan.

Ban also spoke about the security situation in the country and Pakistan's relationship with neighbours Afghanistan and India.

Prime Minister Sharif urged the United Nations Secretary General to take steps for the peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of UN Security Council.

The prime minister also met with World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Global Education and former British prime minister, Gordon Brown and other global leaders.

Speaking to the Pakistani community in New York, Prime Minister Sharif defended his mandate and downplayed the anti-government protests being held in the country's federal capital. He pledged to pull Pakistan out of difficulties.

The prime minister was accompanied by Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi, Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani and Consul General in New York Raja Ali Ejaz.

Sharif is in New York to take part in the UN General Assembly. He is scheduled to address the world body today at 10pm PST.

In his address premier Sharif is expected to speak on the Kashmir and issues concerning the country.