ISLAMABAD:Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong commitment and support to the United Nations peacekeeping and peace-building programme.
“Pakistan firmly believes in peace, stability, development, and human rights which are interlinked with each other, ” she said while addressing an event in connection with the the UN Peacekeepers Day here.
She also appreciated the Pakistani women who were playing their key role in every field of life They had also served the UN peacekeeping programme as psychologists, operational officers, and nurses, she added.
Hina Rabbani Khar said Pakistan had firm faith in the United Nations’ capability of maintaining peace and it also believed that the role being played by the UN in building peace, ensuring security and development across the world could not be done by any other institution.
She said over 4,300 Pakistani peacekeepers, including female officers, were currently serving with distinction under the UN flag.
Spokesperson Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the event was jointly organized by the ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Resident Representative UNDP Pakistan Knut Ostby informed the audience that currently over 87,000 peacekeepers from across the world were deployed under the UN peacekeeping missions to ensure global peace and development.
Additional Secretary United Nations Pakistan Syed Haider Shah said not only military personnel were serving in the UN missions but the civilian experts, psychologists, doctors, nurses and others were also deployed to ensure long term and sustainable peace and development.
Military Observer at the UN peacekeeping missions, Lt. Col. Jehangir Server and military logistic officer Major Saman Naeem, on the occasion shared their personal experiences during their stay at the missions and said the Pakistani personnel were actively engaged in building peace, improving living standards of the local and providing humanitarian assistance to the locals.
