Parrikar: India ready to fight ISIS under U.N
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that India is willing to join the fight against the Islamic State (IS), if it's a United Nations-sanctioned operation carried out under the U.N. flag. He was responding to questions on the possibility of India's participation in operations against the ISIS. This was the first remark by a senior minister in Modi government detailing India's stand on the IS.
UN peacekeeping operations started in 1948. Since then, 69 peacekeeping operations have been deployed by the UN. A total of 120 countries have contributed military and police personnel to UN peacekeeping. There are currently 16 UN peacekeeping operations and one special political mission, deployed on four continents. Of the uniformed personnel, currently 92,695 serving are troops and military observers and about 13,550 are police.
29 May is celebrated as the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.
India has been the largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions since its inception. India prefers to participate in peacekeeping missions rather than peace enforcements. So far, India has taken part in 44 Peacekeeping missions with a total contribution exceeding 1,80,000 troops. In 2014, India was the second largest troop contributor with 8,123 personnel deployed with 12 UN Peacekeeping Missions.
One of India's significant contributions to UN Peacekeeping operations has been the contribution by India's all-female police force in Liberia. For the first time in the history of UN peacekeeping, an all-female Indian Formed Police Unit (FPU) was deployed from India to the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in 2007.
India is engaged in 12 out of the UN's 16 active missions. These include : Lebanon (UNIFIL) since Dec 1998; Congo (MONUC/ MONUSCO) since Jan 2005; Sudan (UNMIS/UNMISS) since April 2005; Golan Heights (UNDOF) since Feb 2006; Ivory Coast (UNOCI) since April 2004; Haiti (MINUSTAH) since December 1997 and Liberia (UNMIL) since April 2007. 158 of India's personnel have been martyred in UN-peacekeeping operations.
United Nations called the members states to fight "a global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security" i.e. the ISIS. The 15-member UN Security Council declared to adopt the French-proposed resolution in a unanimous vote. The resolution, "calls upon member states that have the capacity to do so to take all necessary measures..on the territory under the control of ISIL...in Syria and Iraq."
