Pakistani peacekeeper Naik Naeem Raza, who served the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was martyred last year, was on Saturday posthumously awarded a UN medal by Secretary General António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres.

Raza had embraced martyrdom during an ambush on a UN Convoy in January 2018, according to a press release by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.

“The medal is awarded to blue helmets for their supreme sacrifice in the line of duty,” read the statement issued by the military’s media wing.

According to the press release, 156 Pakistan Peacekeepers have so far laid down their lives for global peace and stability.

The posthumous award is a Dag Hammarskjöld Medal, which was awarded to Raza during a ceremony held at UN Headquarters in New York to commemorate the International Day of Peacekeepers, Radio Pakistan reported.

The award was received by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, who said that the act was a recognition of the “sacrifice, dedication and professionalism of Pakistan’s peacekeepers”.

According to the national broadcaster, Pakistan has consistently remained among the top contributors to UN’s peacekeeping with over 200,000 troops pledged to 46 UN peacekeeping mission over the last six decades.