UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Friday honoured 119 military, police and civilian peacekeepers from 38 countries, including a Pakistani soldier, who lost their lives in 2018 and early 2019 while serving in UN peacekeeping operations in hotspots around the world.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presided over the special ceremony during which the Dag Hammarskjold Medal was awarded posthumously to the peacekeepers who made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of peace.
The event, held at UN Headquarters in New York, marked the annual International Day of Peacekeepers. Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, accepted the award from the UN chief on behalf of the family of Naik Mohammad Naeem Raza who died while serving with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
Speaking to APP afterwards, she said she was “humbled and honoured” to receive the award on behalf of Shaheed Raza. “This medal to our hero Naik Mohammad Naeem Raza is recognition by the UN Secretary General of the sacrifice, dedication and professionalism of Pakistan’s peacekeepers,” Ambassador Lodhi said. “Pakistani peacekeepers continue to serve UN peacekeeping missions with distinction and fly the flag of Pakistan high,” she said. “Their sacrifices are testimony to Pakistan’s commitment to uphold international peace and security.”
Pakistan is currently the sixth largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. Currently, Pakistan contributes more than 5,200 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and the Western Sahara.
During the ceremony, the Secretary-General also awarded the “Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage” posthumously to Private Chancy Chitete of Malawi. The medal is named for a Senegalese peacekeeper who was killed in Rwanda in 1994 after saving countless civilian lives. This is the first time the medal has been awarded since the inaugural medal was presented to Captain Diagne’s family in his honour in 2016.
