Brigadier Dr Tughral Yamin (retd), senior research fellow, Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and former director and associate dean, Centre for International Peace & Stability (CIPS), National University of Science & Technology (NUST) called upon President Dr Arif Alvi on February 8, 2023 and presented him with his book International Peacekeeping: Perspectives from Pakistan recently published by IPS Press, the publishing arm of the Institute.
Dr Yamin apprised the president on the occasion that ever since Pakistan started participating in the UN peacekeeping operations in 1960, it has earned the reputation of being one of the largest and most professional troop contributing countries among the UN member states. It is unfortunate however that very little has been written by Pakistani scholars on the subject so far. This drought in this written work, he rued, has done great injustice to the accomplishments of Pakistani peacekeepers as well as to the national peacekeeping philosophy. This edited volume attempts to cover this obvious gap in the existing corpus of UN peacekeeping literature and gives voice to Pakistani scholars and practitioners on this subject. Covering a wide array of topics ranging from foreign policy motivations to modern trends in peacekeeping and how Pakistan is adapting to these emerging challenges, the work also brings out the lessons learnt from various operations. Presenting the ideas and thoughts of veteran peacekeepers, professors and research students of CIPS, the book is meant to be a must read for those studying the subject of peacekeeping, he added.
President Alvi appreciated the efforts put in by the veteran military official, peacekeeper and academician in the preparation of such distinctive and much-needed scholarly work. He hoped that the work will go a long way in emphasizing Pakistan’s commitment to the cause of ensuring global peace and highlighting its efforts towards the realization of the same goal.