ISLAMABAD: As the international community celebrates the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that peacekeeping remained an effective mechanism for maintaining peace, security and stability in the world. “As one of the top troop-contributing countries, Pakistan deeply values the vital role played by blue helmets in maintaining security and stability in many conflict-ridden areas around the world,” Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement. He said that Pakistan saluted the services and sacrifices rendered by UN peacekeepers and reiterate its commitment to continue working with the United Nations for advancing the shared ideals of peace, stability and cooperation. He said that Pakistan was proud of its long-standing and consistent contributions to UN peacekeeping spanning over six decades. “Since 1960, over 200,000 of our servicemen have served with honour and valour in 46 UN missions in 26 countries in almost all continents of the world,” he remarked. Through their professionalism and dedication, Pakistan’s peacekeepers had always distinguished themselves in every mission where they have participated. About 157 peacekeepers had sacrificed their lives in the line of duty for the cause of international peace and security, he said. The spokesperson said that Pakistan has also led the way in deputing female peacekeepers in record time. In 2019, Pakistan met the 15 percent benchmark set by the UN Secretariat in the staff/officers category. Even, a team of Pakistani officers was presently serving as the first all-female group from Pakistan in a UN peacekeeping mission, deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, providing a range of resources to the region including psychologists, stress counsellors, vocational training officers, gender advisers, doctors, nurses, operations officers, information officers, and logistics officers. He said that Pakistan’s contribution to peacekeeping on the ground had been complemented by its active engagement at the level of policy formulation in various UN bodies. Pakistan brings a unique perspective to peacekeeping, not only as a leading troop contributing country, but also as the host to one of the oldest peacekeeping missions in the world – the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).