UN Military Observers Course (UNMOC) – 17

A United Nations Integrated Training Service (UNITS) certified Military Observer Officers Course serial – 17 was run at Peacekeeping Training Department, CIPS from 12 Feb to 23 Feb 2018. This course had twenty eight participants which included twenty five from Pakistan Armed Forces and three foreign participants. Six female peacekeepers from Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force also underwent the Training.

The participants went through the learning process which included all the UN modules including Core Pre deployment Training and Specialized Training Material. Besides PKT department faculty members, the lectures were given by multidimensional experts/ Guest Speakers which included members from UN Agencies, Senior Armed Forces Officers, UN Mission Experts, Officers from Military Operations Directorate, GHQ and few others. A two day situation based scenario oriented CARANA exercise was also conducted which gave lot of practical experience to the participants. The participants also were briefed by Chief Military Observer UNMOGIP as well as Military Attaché, UK high Commission in Pakistan who shared his views about his personal experience of a UN Peacekeeping mission.

Foreign students were administratively looked after well. They were taken around within Islamabad/ Rawalpindi and Murree, a nearby hill resort for site seeing. There outdoor activities also included shopping/ excursion as well as a trip to “The Army Museum” and heritage sites at Taxila.  A formal farewell lunch was hosted for all the participants.

The course ended with a formal closing ceremony in which Lieutenant General Maqsood Ahmed (Retd) ex-Military Advisor for Peace keeping Operations New York was the Chief Guest. The successful participants were awarded UN ITS certificate by the Chief Guest.