Eight Pakistani peacekeepers to be among 103 honoured posthumously at UN on Thursday.

Eight Pakistanis are among 103 United Nations peacekeepers from around the world who will be honoured posthumously on May 25 at a special ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping, it was officially announced Tuesday.

The Pakistani peacekeepers include 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. They are: 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. Havildar Babar Siddique lost his life while also serving in MONUSCO and Corporal Rana Muhammad Tahir Islam while serving 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.

In 1948, according to a UN press release, the historic decision was made to deploy military observers to the Middle East to supervise the implementation of Israel-Arab Armistice agreements, in what became the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization. Since that time, more than two million peacekeepers from 125 countries have served in 71 operations around the world. Today, 87,000 women and men are serving in 12 conflict zones across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

During formal ceremonies at UN Headquarters in New York, Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres will lay a wreath to honour the more than 4,200 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948. He will also preside over a ceremony in the General Assembly Hall at which Dag Hammarskjold Medals will be awarded posthumously to 103 military, police, and civilian peacekeepers, who lost their lives serving under the UN...