NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi has told the 15-member UN Security Council that Pakistan has contributed over 200,000 troops to 43 UN Missions since the 1960s.
“Our contribution to Peacekeeping has not been without cost,” Maleeha Lodhi said while participating in the Security Council debate on Peacekeeping Operations.
“156 of our bravest have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the cause of peace,” she added.
Citing the recent closure of Missions in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire as evidence of successful Peacekeeping, Lodhi told the Security Council that “It is a humbling for us that in these missions, Pakistani peacekeepers were deployed. They accomplished their tasks, fulfilled their mandates and above all, they won hearts and minds.”
نیویارک:پاکستان اقوام متحدہ کے امن مشن کا اہم رکن ہے:مستقل مندوب ڈاکٹر ملیحہ لودھی pic.twitter.com/AHy4ZHSrjp
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Maleeha Lodhi called for precise mandates and adequate resources for effective and efficient UN peacekeeping. “When mandates and capabilities are out of sync, efficiency and effectiveness inevitably suffer,” she said.
The ambassador said that the UN Security Council must base its decisions on practical analysis by the Secretariat of resource requirements.
Welcoming the focus on performance, the Pakistani envoy said that improved performance would lead to better results and would also improve the safety and security of peacekeepers.
Lodhi told the Security Council that Pakistan has developed peacekeeping training modules that form part of the curricula of its mandatory courses as professionalism in peacekeeping ensures excellence in service delivery.
The envoy stressed that pre-deployment training including common and standardized training is vital for all Mission components. She expressed Pakistan’s willingness to share this expertise with other Troop Contributing Countries, and also with the UN.
