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INDIAN SOLDIERS AMONG 106 PEACEKEEPERS HONOURED BY UN
The United Nations
honoured 106 peacekeepers, including eight Indian soldiers, who lost their
lives in peacekeeping operations.
The International Day of
UN Peacekeepers was commemorated in United Nations on Thursday with UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon laying a
wreath at a newly-created memorial for the peacekeepers.
The ceremony was attended by India's Permanent
Representative to the UN Ambassador Asoke
Kumar Mukerji and other envoys and military attaches of member
states.
Ban then presided over a solemn ceremony where the prestigious Dag Hammarskjold Medal, named after the second
UN chief, was posthumously awarded to the 106 fallen
peacekeepers for their courage and sacrifice in the line of duty.
Mukerji accepted the medal on behalf of the eight Indian soldiers who
lost their lives while stationed at UN missions.
The fallen Indian peacekeepers are Lt Col Mahipal
Singh, Lance Naik Nand Kishore Joshi, Havildar Heera Lal, Naib Subedar Shiv
Kumar Pal and Havildar Bharat Sasmal from the UN Mission in South Sudan
(UNMISS) who were killed in April last year when they were ambushed by about
200 attackers near Jonglei State as they escorted a UN convoy.
Subedar Dharmesh Sangwan and Subedar Kumar Pal
Singh died in action in December last year in Akobo following an assault
on a UN base.
Sepoy Rameshwar Singh, deployed as a
peacekeeper in the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, was killed in February 2013.
Mukerji later hosted a commemorative reception where the names of all the 106
peacekeepers were placed along with photographs of the eight Indian soldiers
who had died.
The symbolic tribute, an initiative by India and a first, was made to honour
those who collectively gave their lives in pursuit of international peace and
security.
Candles were lit in their memory to demonstrate the solidarity of the UN
peacekeeping community and the debt owed by the international community to the
brave souls.
