Pakistan's Role In Performing Peacekeeping Missions Needs To Be Highlighted Intensively: Experts

The foreign policy experts on Thursday stressed the need to highlight the role of Pakistan while performing peacekeeping missions at international fora comprehensively through publishing more literature and books

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Mar, 2023 ):The foreign policy experts on Thursday stressed the need to highlight the role of Pakistan while performing peacekeeping missions at international fora comprehensively through publishing more literature and books.

The experts made the remarks during the launching ceremony of the book "International Peacekeeping: Perspectives from Pakistan" edited by Dr. Tughral Yamin and recently published by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).

The ceremony, organized by IPS in coordination with the Centre for International Peace & Stability (CIPS), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), and Centre for Critical Peace Studies, University of Management and Technology (UMT), was chaired by Ambassador (Retd) Khalid Mahmood, Chairman of Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI).

Senator Mushahid Hussain was of the view that Pakistan had been at the forefront of peacekeeping missions but never received due recognition and reward at the UN and international level.

"Pakistani peacekeepers are the best ambassadors of Pakistan," he voiced the words attributed to the first Indonesian President Sukarno.

He said that the book, which was launched today, rightly served the cause by focusing on this aspect( Pakistan's role in peacekeeping missions).

"The UN has remained selective and not attentive to human rights violations in Palestine, Kashmir, Gaza, and other Muslim-majority conflict areas," he lamented.

Chairman IPS Ambassador (Retd) Khalid maintained that the role of UN peacekeepers and the concept of peacekeeping evolved with the change in the nature of war, and added that in addition to separating the combatants, now peacekeepers had to resolve the internal conflicts and perform disarmament.

Pakistani peacekeepers had executed the said mission which had evolved into a more complex role over the years, he concluded.

Associate Professor School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-i-Azam University Dr. Farhan Hanif Siddique noted that the book was an interesting contribution as it goes beyond the militarized view of peacekeeping and the evolved socio-economic culture taking birth in the respective counties due to the peacekeeping mission, besides the power politics.

He further underscored the importance for scholars and practitioners to understand the history, evolution, and mechanics of peacekeeping and peacebuilding.