Pakistan on Thursday contradicted media reports that it has conveyed to the visiting High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations that the country will not assign additional troops for the UN peacekeeping missions owing to its extensive engagements at home.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told media persons during her regular press briefing that the reports are incorrect, which are attributed to a statement of a Pakistani official in New York that during the recent visit of the High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations, Pakistan has conveyed that it would not assign additional troops to the United Nations Peacekeeping missions due to its extensive and intensive engagements at home.
She said that Pakistan's role in peacekeeping is underpinned by national consensus and is an integral part of its foreign policy. She said that Pakistan's commitment to UN efforts towards maintenance of international peace and security is manifested through its substantive contributions to peacekeeping for over five decades. Since 1960, she said nearly 154,000 Pakistani peacekeepers have made important contributions towards peace, security and stability in 42 UN peacekeeping operations in 24 countries across the globe.
"We take pride in having contributed to some of the most notable successes of UN peacekeeping and peace building, from Sierra Leone to Timor-Leste, to Burundi and Liberia," she said, adding over 140 Pakistani peacekeepers have so far laid down their lives, advancing the cause of global peace. The spokesperson said that Pakistan has and will continue to maintain its strong commitment and tangible contributions to United Nations Peacekeeping operations. She said that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon established a 14-member High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operation headed by former President of Timor Leste, Jose Ramos Horta to carry out a comprehensive review of the UN peacekeeping operations and the UN special political missions.
The Panel is currently carrying out consultations with all relevant stakeholders in the context of the review, she said, adding the visit of the Panel members to Pakistan in the first week of February 2015 was part of the consultative process. During the visit, she said that the panel had very fruitful and productive discussions on the issues under its purview at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense as well as at the Pakistan Army General Headquarters, Rawalpindi. "In all these interactions, Pakistan conveyed its strong and unequivocal commitment to UN peacekeeping as well as its desire to continue contributing peacekeepers to the UN peacekeeping missions," she added.
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