UN honour for Chamba peacekeeper

Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, May 21

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Constable Jitinder Kumar from Chamba has been awarded the prestigious Dag Hammarskjold Medal posthumously for meritorious services in UN peacekeeping forces.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin will collect the medal on behalf of the fallen Indian peacekeeper on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on May 29.

Kumar had laid down his life while serving in the UN peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo on August 29 last year.

Kumar, a resident of Uliyanu village near Chamba town, is survived by his parents, wife and a three-year-old son.

His wife Anita says she wants her son to serve the country by joining the Army or paramilitary forces as an officer. “A government job for widows will be a befitting tribute to the martyrs. It will help them sustain their families,” she adds.

Kumar’s father Ishwari Pratap Sharma says while the void left behind could not be filled, the family was proud of their son’s valour.

Kumar is the lone Indian among the 119 military, police and civilian personnel who will be honoured with the UN medal this year.

India is the fourth largest contributor of uniformed personnel to the UN peacekeeping. It currently contributes more than 6,400 military and police personnel to the UN peacekeeping operations in Abyei, Cyprus, the DRC, Haiti, Lebanon, Middle East, South Sudan and Western Sahara.

India has lost the highest number of peacekeepers — 163 of 3,737 — deployed in various UN operations in 70 years. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will preside over the ceremony where the medal will be awarded posthumously. The International Day of UN Peacekeepers was established by the General Assembly in 2002.