Hasina sees no alternative to training for safe peacekeeping

Sheikh Hasina has stressed proper training of soldiers to mitigate the fresh crisis emerging in peacekeeping missions in this age of technological boom.

The prime minister was speaking on Monday at the closing ceremony of ‘Pioneers of Peace’, a programme organised by the Bangladesh Army to mark Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence.

“In the present world, ensuring peace has become much more challenging than it was in the past. With the passing of time, new threats have emerged in forms of invisible enemies like the coronavirus while progress of technology is swiftly moving ahead,” she said.

Expressing worries over the alarming rate of troops losing their lives at UN peacekeeping missions, Hasina said that the forces are facing complicated multi-faceted situations.

As many as 158 Bangladeshi peacekeepers died in action while 237 others were injured so far.

“It is a demand of the time to prepare these peacekeepers with proper training and equipment to combat the approaching crises in UN Peacekeeping operations.”

“I’ve come to know that the participants in the United Nations peacekeeping missions were presented with recent situations in their training so that the future peacekeepers can become properly trained to come up with the correct decisions in such situations.”

Hasina thanked the organisers of the training and said, “This multinational exercise will be a milestone in establishing the Father of the Nation’s vision of peace.”

She went on to congratulate members of armed forces of India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka who participated alongside Bangladesh Army in the Pioneers of Peace exercise which was held from Apr 4-12.