Pakistan drops to fourth position in UN peacekeeping

By Zahid Gishkori
July 15, 2016

Advertisement

Country suffers loss of remittances of over $250m a year; India, Bangladesh now leading peacekeepers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan slipped to fourth position from first in list of over 100 states which offer their services to the United Nations (UN) to help countries torn by conflicts go for lasting peace.

It happens after Islamabad stopped sending peacekeepers on UN Missions since 2013, apparently leading to loss of estimated $250 million worth of foreign exchange the country could otherwise earn from the remittances of these troops contributionannually, military experts and policemen personnel.

“Pakistan drops to fourth position—Bangladeshi and Indian troops lead global peacekeeping now,” a senior official dealing with UN Missions revealed on Thursday. Senior officials Geo News spoke to revealed that Pakistan witnessed decreased of over 31% when around 7, 310 troops were serving at various UN Missions this year while country was the largest contributor for global peacekeeping with maximum 10, 597 troops in 2008. If Pakistan continues stop sending police personnel on global peacekeeping it will witness more drop-down in coming months and will not be able to earn additional remittances in this field, they further feared.

“Pakistani peacekeepers earned estimated $0.6 billion a year as pay and allowances in 2008—now we earned 0.47 billion in 2015,” said a senior official associated with State Bank of Pakistan. “Growths of remittances come from UN peacekeepers slowed from estimated 10.7pc to 29.8pc since 2008 for Pakistan,” he added.

Pakistan, the fourth largest contributor to the UN Police missions with 916 personnel in 2010, has slipped to 15th spot contributing just 279 police personnel this year. The country also contributed 6, 921 troops and 110 UN military experts of all ranks deployed in six UN Missions across presently.

Bangladesh with largest 9,432 troops take the lead, Ethiopia with 8,309 troops secured second position while India with 7,794 troops takes lead over Pakistan this year.

Pakistani Mission with strength of 115 police personnel closed in Kosovo as it became un-operational with effect from December 2008, Interior Ministry officials associated with the development said. European Union Rule of Law Mission assumed its operational responsibilities in the area, they revealed. The UN Mission in Haiti-I with strength of 140 Pakistani personnel also closed in March 2012 while UN Mission in East Timor with strength of 140 Pakistani personnel closed in November 2012, they added. The United Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (MINUCI), a political mission set up by the Council in May 2003, with strength of 190 personnel closed in March 2016 while another mission in Haiti with strength of 140 Pakistani personnel is expected to be closed in coming few months, officials further said. The Sudan Mission with strength of 140 Pakistani police personnel is still operational, they added. Pakistan contributed around 7% of UN’s total deployment with estimated numbers of 110, 000 peacekeepers in its more than three dozen in some 23 countries.

Interior Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan, when questioned on this issue, said; “We are considering sending our contingents soon again. Some formalities remain.” But Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told this correspondent that he stopped sending civilian forces on UN Missions as we need them here in Pakistan. “We are passing through a testing time—that is why we need police officers for their own safety,” he had said soon after he posed ban on them in 2013. But last month, he told media that now the government is considering sending police on global peacekeeping.

Pakistan has contributed more than 165,000 troops by April 2016 in 41 missions established in around two dozen states in almost all continents. The budget requirements for the UN peacekeeping operations will cross $8.3 billion for the 2016/17 fiscal period, officials said.

A retired police officer Kamaluddin Tipu says that the government should immediately lift ban on police for serving at UN Peace Missions. “It’s a diplomatic initiative and Pakistan should not isolate itself from international peacekeeping diplomacy,” said Tipu, who served as Police PlanningAdviserat UN Office to African Union in Ethiopia in 2011.So it was bad decision taken by the interior ministry to keep our contingents away from international exposure where civilian forces’ personnel had opportunity to understand global security dimensions in this modern world, he observed.

Advertisement