Special Correspondent
NEW YORK: The United Nations held a solemn ceremony at its headquarters in New York to mark the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, paying tribute to 57 military, police, and civilian personnel from 32 countries who lost their lives while serving in peacekeeping missions last year.
Among those honored were two Pakistani peacekeepers: Sepoy Muhammad Tariq and Havaldar Ahsan Ullah Khan.
The fallen personnel were posthumously awarded the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal, the highest recognition given by the UN to peacekeepers who die in the line of duty. Sepoy Tariq and Havaldar Khan served with the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).
UN Secretary-General António Guterres presided over the ceremony and paid heartfelt tribute to the courage and sacrifice of the peacekeepers.
He highlighted the increasingly complex and dangerous environments in which peacekeepers operate, citing global polarization, terrorism, misinformation targeting peacekeepers, climate change, and transnational crime as significant challenges.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad and the Mission’s Military Adviser Colonel Umar Shafiq received the medals on behalf of the families of the fallen Pakistani soldiers, alongside representatives from other countries.
The International Day of UN Peacekeepers was established by the UN General Assembly in 2002 to honor the professionalism, dedication, and sacrifice of peacekeepers and to remember those who gave their lives in pursuit of global peace.
