ISLAMABAD: With the United Nations set to downsize several peace-keeping operations, Pakistan’s contribution will also be affected.

“We are downsizing missions, including where Pakistan is playing a major role,” Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, told Dawn.

He is on a three-day visit to Pakistan at the head of a three-member delegation, including his Pakistani adviser Lt Gen Maqsood Ahmed.

Pakistan is currently the largest troop contributor to peace-keeping operations with 8,266 personnel deployed. Peace-keepers from Pakistan are currently deployed in Western Sahara, Haiti, Congo, Darfur, Kosovo, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.

The operations that are being downsized include Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Darfur.

However, Mr Ladsous said new opportunities could arise with planned deployment of a new battalion in Sudan.

A statement from the office of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, whom the UN official met, said he had declined to send policemen for peace-keeping postings.

“Right now we are having problems at home and it would not be possible to spare the police personnel for UN assignments but the policy will be revised as soon as situation improves,” Mr Khan was quoted as saying.

The interior ministry said that Mr Ladsous had specifically asked the interior minister for sending more Pakistani women police personnel to the peace-keeping missions.

The UN official also met President Mamnoon Hussain and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The president during the meeting reiterated Pakistan’s continued commitment towards global and regional peace and security.

Talking to Dawn about his interactions with Pakistani officials, Mr Ladsous said he had “registered a commitment and a continued commitment to UN operations”.

The peace-keeping chief will meet military officials on Tuesday. He will talk to military officials about “improvements in quality of delivery of services, including standards for training and equipment, speed of deployment of units, introduction of modern technology in the missions, particularly the unarmed UAVs, shortage of armoured personnel carriers and helicopters and the working conditions of deployed troops”.

The Foreign Office said its officials in a meeting with the UN official acknowledged the positive role of UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan. “The UN Under-Secretary General highly appreciated Pakistan’s contribution to the UN peace-keeping forces, pivotal role in the preparation of Peace-keeping Manual and adoption of the Security Council resolution 2086 on peace-keeping in Jan 2013 during Pakistan’s presidency of the Security Council,” it said.