New Delhi: In a rare coming together of military adversaries, the inaugural United Nations conference on peacekeeping operations is expected to unite the army chiefs of rivals India and Pakistan in New York later this week. At the event that hopes to bring together defence chiefs of different UN member states on 27 March, Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh will come face-to-face with his Pakistani counterpart General Raheel Sharif less than a week after India accused Pakistani infiltrators of carrying out terror strikes in Jammu.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to open the first Chiefs of Defence Conference organised by the Departments of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and Field Support on March 27. India, which has been one of the largest contributors of troops to UN peacekeeping operations, will be represented by Gen. Suhag. Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, have been the consistent top 3 contributors of troops for UN peace operations for almost a decade now.
The day-long conference is expected to focus on UN peacekeeping operations in the current political, strategic and operational environment as well as on the future of UN peacekeeping. At the chiefs of defence conclave, army chiefs of countries contributing troops to 16 ongoing peace missions, led by the UN DPKO, are invited to attend. These missions span from Haiti to South Sudan and Kosovo to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
With 7,200 soldiers currently serving peace missions, India is the third-largest contributor of troops to the UN. Bangladesh and Pakistan are the top contributors with 7,998 and 7,925 troops, respectively.
Although India and Pakistan may be trading fire and blame along the Line of Control, their soldiers are on the same side, fighting someone elses wars, under a 15-minute evacuation plan in the killing fields thousands of miles from home.
Hindustan Times quotes a senior army official as saying, The dynamics of peace missions are different as we are soldiers representing our countries. It is not uncommon for Indian and Pakistani soldiers to share workstations, plan deployment of forces and assess the outcome of operations in various peace missions.
Indian troops constitute the maximum number of fatalities in peacekeeping history. Conflict on foreign soil has claimed the lives of 158 Indians, compared to the death count of 137 Pakistanis and 123 Bangladeshis.
Discussions would also focus on challenges and opportunities for mission support in peacekeeping operations and performance challenges in the current security environment. The defence chiefs will hold discussions with Under Secretary General for the DPKO, Herve Ladsous and Under Secretary General for Field Support Atul Khare, an Indian.
Khare, a senior Indian diplomat, was in January appointed by the UN Chief as head of the UN Department of Field Support (DFS), an appointment that made him one of the highest ranking Indian officials in the UN system. Several senior UN peacekeeping officials, including Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations Lt. Gen. Maqsood Ahmed of Pakistan, will attend the conference. –EJ
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