LAHORE: Punjab Inspector General of Police Faisal Shahkar has been selected as Police Adviser to the United Nations Department of Peace Operations by Secretary General Antonio Guterres, becoming the first officer from Pakistan to have this prestigious position.

The global position had mostly been occupied by senior police officers from Europe or America.

The Department of Peace Operations (DPO) is charged with planning, preparation, management and direction of UN peacekeeping operations. It is dedicated to assist the member states and the UN secretary general in their efforts to maintain international peace and security.

The DPO also provides political and executive direction to the UN peacekeeping operations around the world and maintains contact with the UN Security Council, troops and financial contributors, and parties to the conflict in the implementation of Security Council mandates.

The head of the DPO is selected keeping in view an officer’s past experience at the UN against any key position.

An official say that Faisal Shahkar is the only police officer of IG rank who qualified for the slot from Pakistan. He has been selected from amongst world’s top police officers nominated by the UN member states to contest for the slot, he adds.

He was nominated by the Foreign Office after the UN advertised the high-profile position. The two-year assignment is extendable for another term of the same length, the official says. Shahkar was shortlisted by the UN for the written test from amongst over 100 officers, keeping in view his outstanding profile, including his past experience of serving in the United States (New York). He was among nearly a dozen police officers who cleared the written test and called by the UN for an interview conducted by a panel of senior officials some five months back.

A couple of days back, the official say, the UN approved the name of Shahkar, making him the first Pakistani, as well as Asian, officer posted against the global slot.

He says that besides conducting probes into war crimes world over, the UNDPO had carried out investigations into many high-profile assassinations, including that of Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The department also sends advice to the UN secretary general on reforms in police units all over the world, he adds.

The UNDPO, created in 1992 after Boutros Boutros-Ghali took over as UN secretary general, is currently housing three main offices – Rule of Law & Security Institutions, Military Affairs and the the Policy, Evaluation and the Training Division.

About Mr Shahkar’s joining of the UNDPO office, the official says the process may take two months or so.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Punjab Police said IGP Faisal Shahkar has a nine-year experience of working at the UN Headquarters and had also performed various field duties under the UN. He said Mr Shahkar had served as Team Leader in the United Nations Standing Police Capacity and in the United Nations Police Division from 2005 to 2008 and from 2011 to 2013, respectively. He also served in Liberia and Bosnia-Herzegovina for more than three years under the UN Mission.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi have congratulated Mr Shahkar on being selected for the prestigious position.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2022