ISLAMABAD: The United Nations has honoured fifty-seven military, police, and civilian peacekeepers from thirty-two countries, including two from Pakistan, who paid the ultimate price for the cause of peace last year, serving the missions around the world.
A ceremony to this effect was held on the occasion of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, Radio Pakistan reported on Friday.
Among the posthumous awardees of Dag Hammarskjold medals are Sepoy Muhammad Tarique and Havildar Ahsan Ullah Khan, who both served with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, accompanied by the Mission’s Military Adviser Col. Umar Shafique, attended the ceremony and accepted the awards, along with other heads of missions and their military attachés.
Shaheed Sepoy Muhammad Tarique and Shaheed Havildar Ahsan Ullah Khan were among the 57 peacekeepers from 32 countries who were honored today for their ultimate sacrifice in the service of international peace under the banner of UN Peacekeeping.
Pakistan is the 5th largest… pic.twitter.com/JMgfwNCyqt
— Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN (@PakistanUN_NY) May 29, 2025
The first UN peacekeeping operation was established in 1948, and today more than 68,000 civilian, military, and police personnel are posted at 11 missions in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Pakistan is the 5th largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping, the UN’s flagship activity. It currently deploys more than 2,800 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Somalia, South Sudan and Western Sahara.
This year’s theme focuses on the future of peacekeeping, and Secretary-General Guterres noted that “peacekeepers face increasingly complex situations in an increasingly complex world.”
