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Pakistan on the front-lines of UN peacekeeping
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From Europe to Africa, Pakistan has always stepped up to offer troops for maintaining peace in strife-torn regions

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In what were once the world’s major conflict zones, many locals still remember Pakistan by the distinctive image of ‘Blue Helmets
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Such has been the presence and commitment of Pakistan’s military and security personnel when it comes to United Nations peacekeeping duties
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Beginning with Congo in 1960, Pakistan has deployed peacekeepers in virtually every continent. In the 60 years that followed
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the country has sent more than 200,000 troops for 46 missions in 28 different countries, consistently making it one of the top five contributors.
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With any commitment comes sacrifice, and Pakistan’s Blue Helmet story is no different.
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As many as 157 Pakistani peacekeepers have been martyred while helping restore peace and stability to the turbulent regions, including 24 officers
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Even so, its dedication to UN peacekeeping efforts has not wavered. Even now, with more than 7,000 personnel deployed in nine of the 14 ongoing UN missions,
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Pakistan remains the third largest source of peacekeepers in the world.
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Why focus on peacekeeping?

Speaking to The Express Tribune, some prominent defence analysts elaborated on the significance of Pakistan’s
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contribution to UN peacekeeping duties and why it forms a cornerstone of the country’s foreign policy.
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“Participation in UN peacekeeping operations is now a tenet of Pakistan’s foreign policy.
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It takes its inspiration from the policy statement of the founder of the nation that Pakistan wants peace with all nations of the world,
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” said Prof Tughral Yamin, who teaches peacekeeping as a subject and has written a book titled ‘UN Peacekeeping Operations in Somalia 1992-1995: A Pakistani Perspective’
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He outlined the foreign policy objectives participation in these operations fulfills. “For a small nation in terms of power potential, participation in @UN

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Prof Yamin said. “Participation in a peacekeeping mission is also a soft way of portraying the country’s image as a responsible member state of the UN,” added.
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According to Prof Yamin, peacekeeping missions also provided the Pakistan Army a useful way to showcase it skills in a positive manner.
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Pakistan has a first rate professional army. For members of the armed forces, these missions provide great international exposure
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and allow them to work together with multinational forces and staffs and learn the latest skills in conflict management and post conflict stabilisation operations,” he said.
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Prof Yamin also highlighted how participation in peacekeeping duties has even had a positive impact on the regional level for Pakistan.
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“It is interesting to note that while Pakistan and India are sworn enemies, they have amicably operated together on UN peacekeeping missions,” he pointed out.
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“Our prominence in such operations has earned both our country and forces immense goodwill,” he noted. “Although I never had the chance to participate myself, in Liberia,
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where my battalion was deployed in a peacekeeping role, they still remember Pakistanis and laud us.”
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According to Gen Inam, Pakistan’s commitment to UN peacekeeping is “driven by the feeling that we have certain responsibilities
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under the UN Charter and we need to fulfill them.” He added that “Pakistanis, as a nation, also have a strong urge to help other people and nations in times of crisis, irrespective of religion and creed.”
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“Although countries that provide peacekeepers receive some remuneration from the UN, this has never been a consideration for us.
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Where a lot of participating forces ask the UN to provide arms and equipment for peacekeeping missions, we have always relied on our own equipment and assets,” he pointed out.
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Praised around the world

Elaborating on peacekeeping missions, Gen Inam explained that they entail several different kinds of operations.
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“These include peace enforcement, which involves some measure of fighting, as well as stability operations, policing, logistics support,
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medical assistance and aiding civil government in activities like holding elections,” he said.
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According to him, when it came to UN missions, Pakistan’s contribution has been ‘multifarious and across the board’. “From Europe to Africa and the Middle East,
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we have been the trendsetters when it comes to many UN peacekeeping missions, performing all sorts of operations,” he said.
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“When it comes to officers, ours have served in both staff and command positions. Many of our senior officers have even headed UN missions.
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Even in times of crisis, when we were fighting terrorism and rooting out insurgency on our Western border
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while engaged with India on the East, we have fulfilled our peacekeeping obligations,” Gen Inam stressed.
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“It is not just military personnel or men that we have contributed either. We have sent police officials to support various UN peacekeeping operations
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and we have also provided lady officers serving in both military and police forces,” he added.
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Gen Inam also pointed out how well Pakistan had acquitted itself in peacekeeping missions compared to others.
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“Where other countries’ peacekeeping record is marred by incidents ranging from theft and misappropriation to those as abhorrent as abuse and rape,
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Pakistan’s record for the most part has been spotless,” he said.
Indeed, Pakistani Blue Helmets’ performance has been widely
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acknowledged by both the UN leadership and world leaders.
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While visiting Pakistan in 2013, then UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was ‘overwhelmed with gratitude’ for its role in aiding international peace and security.
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“More than 100 countries contribute troops and police for United Nations peacekeeping missions.
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Pakistan is number one,” he said at the time. “It is impossible to speak about the history of United Nations
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peacekeeping without highlighting such contributions of Pakistan. I
thank you very much.”
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UN diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi also praised Pakistan for its peacekeeping role in Haiti, expressing his ‘sincere admiration’ for the ‘splendid work’ of the Pakistani battalion deployed there.
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Going back further in history, Indonesia’s first president Sukarno and then Chinese premier Chou En Lai also looked back on Pakistan’s peacekeeping role in the former country with utmost appreciation.
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“It was because of Pakistani troops that Indonesia and Pakistan came close together, they were Pakistan's best ambassadors,
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” Sukarno had said. “The only example in UN history, when a UN military force had gone in, performed its role honestly and came out was Pakistan's Military
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contingent in Indonesia,” the Chinese premier remarked.
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Presently, Pakistani peacekeepers are deployed in Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Darfur, Somalia, Western Sahara, Mali, Abyei and Cyprus.
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Glossed over in Black Hawk Down

When it comes to the various peacekeeping endeavours Pakistan has contributed,
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Somalia is simultaneously one of its most high profile ones as well as the most tragic.
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In what would be the bloodiest day for its history of participation in UN missions, 24 Pakistani peacekeepers were martyred on June 5, 1993.
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“They were murdered in cold blood on the streets of Mogadishu while on mission to distribute food,” recalled Prof Yamin.
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“The accident happened because the HQ of the UN peacekeeping forces in Somalia failed to share the threat of the Somali warlord Farah Aidid’s faction
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that they would take the inspection of the authorised weapon sites as an act of war.”
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“The day, June 5, is now marked as the day for Pakistani peacekeepers because of it,” he noted.
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Prof Yamin also pointed out how Pakistan was involved in rescuing American troops in the aftermath of a botched operation launched by the latter in October that year.
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“This became the story of the famous movie Black Hawk Down. But the heroics of the Pakistani peacekeepers were not shown in the pop history produced by Hollywood,” he lamented.
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Pakistani peacekeepers’ daring efforts to rescue the US troops was not the only episode that has seemingly been glossed over.
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“My unit, the elite 7 Frontier Force Regiment was the first military outfit in the world to land in the strife-torn Mogadishu in September 1992,” pointed out Prof Yamin.
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“They were preceded by a small group of military observers under the command of then brigadier Lt Gen (retd) Imtiaz Shaheen.”
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“When this brave vanguard of Pakistani peacekeepers had stabilised the situation, 1,800 US Marines along with other western troops landed
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on the beaches of Mogadishu on December 9, 1992,” Prof Yamin pointed out. “This amphibious landing from US ships was a typical CNN-style show made for the home audience,” he said.
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“TV crews were already placed on shore to catch the ‘historic’ event at ‘secret’ landing sites.
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It was a media exercise that conveniently overlooked that the Pakistanis were already in control of the sea and airport
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and were actively involved in the humanitarian aid to the impoverished people of Somalia.”
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Prof Yamin lamented that so far even the Pakistani media has not highlighted Pakistani peacekeepers efforts around the world.
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“I think there is a need to focus on UN peacekeeping to project a soft image of Pakistan.
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I only wish our political leaders and our mainstream media could project the work of our peacekeepers in more generous terms,” he said.
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As for the Somalia mission, the deputy commander of UN forces in that country in 1993 did praise the Pakistani Blue Berets.
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“Many of the soldiers are alive today because of the willingness and skill of the Pakistani soldiers who worked jointly in a rescue operation.
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We are thankful to the people and army of Pakistan for sending such splendid soldiers to Somalia whom we feel proud to serve with,” Maj Gen Thomas M Montgomery had said at the time.
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Note
This All Material are property of
Express tribune
Published by
Zeeshan Ahmad | February 16, 2020
All credit goes to author
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