President Zardari announces 355 recipients of civil awards on Independence Day

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has approved national civil awards for 355 individuals in recognition of their contributions across a range of fields, alongside military and gallantry honours announced on Independence Day.

According to the Presidency, the president also approved military awards for 1,172 members of the armed forces and civil armed forces. The civil honours recognise services and achievements in science, engineering, education, medicine, arts, literature, sports, journalism, social welfare, philanthropy and public service. The awards announced on August 14 will formally be conferred on Pakistan Day, March 23 next year.

Top civil honours

The Nishan-i-Pakistan, the country’s highest civil honour for a foreign national, will be awarded to Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak of the United Arab Emirates. Dr Jal Rattanji Patel and the late Dr Jal Daeboo, two physicians who attended to Pakistan’s founder, have been selected for the Nishan-i-Quaid-i-Azam.

Recipients of the Nishan-i-Imtiaz include poet and writer Asad Muhammad Khan, Ishaq Dar, Mohsin Naqvi, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Ahad Khan Cheema, Bilal Azhar Kayani and the late scholar Muhammad Asad.

Six foreign dignitaries will receive the Hilal-i-Pakistan: Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan, Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, Deemah Al Yahya, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Logvinovich Overchuk and Hiroji Kataoka.

Educationist Carey Schofield has been selected for the Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam, while Turkish ministers Hakan Fidan, Yasar Gular and Omer Bolat and Spanish Senator Vicente Azpitarte will receive the Sitara-i-Pakistan.

Six recipients from China, Spain, France and Malaysia have been named for the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam, including Yang Baoning, Master Yuan Xikun, Professor Zhou Yushu, Antonio Gutierrez Limones, Pascal Allizard and Dr Maszlee bin Malik.

Hilal-i-Imtiaz recipients

Fifteen people have been selected for the Hilal-i-Imtiaz across technology, higher education, medicine, broadcasting, literature, the bureaucracy and services to Pakistan.

They include Interactive Group CEO Dr Shahid Mahmud, NUTECH Rector Lt Gen (retd) Moazzam Ejaz, transplant surgeon Dr Faisal Saud Dar, HUM Network’s Sultana Siddiqi, and poets Ejaz Rahim and Khurshid Ul Hasan Rizvi.

Senior public servants on the list include Intelligence Bureau Director General Fuad Asadullah, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal, FBR chief Rashid Mahmood Lagrial and Establishment Secretary Barrister Nabeel A. Awan.

Saudi Assistant Minister for Investment Ibrahim Al-Mubarak and overseas Pakistanis Dr Ghulam Murtaza, the late Prof Ahmed Ali and Sardar Muhammad Ilyas Khan have also been recognised.

Sitara-i-Imtiaz honours academia, medicine and arts

Recipients of the Sitara-i-Imtiaz include academics, doctors, artists, writers, sports figures, journalists, social workers and public servants.

Those recognised in science and higher education include Prof Dr Syed Zafar Ilyas, Prof Dr Mudassir Asrar, Prof Dr Muhammad Raza Shah, Prof Dr Khalid Masood Gondal, Dr Rashid Amjad and Dr Zafar Iqbal Qadir.

In medicine, the late bone marrow transplantation pioneer Prof Dr Tahir Shamsi and infectious diseases specialist Dr Naseem Salahuddin will be honoured posthumously. Prof Dr Syed Jamal Raza, Dr Shah Khalid and Prof Dr Muhammad Khurram have also been selected.

Ten figures from the arts are among the recipients, including Nisho Begum, Iftikhar Ahmed Thakur, Syed Fasih Uddin Soharwardhy, Shakir Hussain, Taranam Naz, Saira John Peter, the late Abida Ehsan, Raja Changez Sultan, Muhammad Naeem Tahir and Bashir Ahmed.

Literary figures receiving the honour include Shakeel Adilzada, Prof Brig (retd) Waheed Uz Zaman Tariq, Maqsood Hussain Jafri, Riaz ul Haq Tahir Riaz Majeed, Muhammad Hafeez Khan, Prof Dr Muhammad Saleem Mazhar, Hashim Nadeem and poet Muhsin Naqvi.

Boxing coach Atta Mohammad Kakar and Dr Waseem A Tai have been honoured in sports, while journalists Muhammad Saleh Zaafir and Haji Nawaz Raza are among the journalism recipients.

Twenty-eight public servants will also receive the Sitara-i-Imtiaz. Punjab police officers IGP Abdul Kareem, DIG Waqas Hassan and DIG Tanveer Hussain Tunio have been recognised for their role in the Kacha operation.

Tamgha-i-Imtiaz forms largest category

The Tamgha-i-Imtiaz accounts for the largest single category in this year’s civil awards.

Science recipients include Dr Sajjad Hussain, Prof Dr Aneela Zameer Jaffery and Dr Urooj Saeed, while Dr Muhammad Sadiq and Prof Dr Naeem-ul-Haq Tariq have been recognised in engineering.

Sixteen educationists have been selected, among them Prof Dr Ghazala Yasmeen, Prof Dr Nasir Mahmood, Prof Dr Faisal Bari, Prof Dr Sabiha Mansoor, Prof Engr Dr Ehsan Ullah Kakar, Dr Ghulam Ali Mallah, Riaz Ahmed Kamlani, Sabah Faisal, Muhammad Rafique Malik, Syed Azhar Afaq Rizvi, Qazi Khalid Ali, Faqir Ullah, Abdul Sattar, Dr Ruhi Khalid, Prof Dr Sardar Muhammad Ali Ayaz Sadiq and Yasmeen Dadabhai.

In medicine, the award will go to Dr Naeem Taj, Dr Abdul Wasay, Dr Mohammad Sharif Hashmani and Dr Maaz Ul Hassan.

Among those recognised in the arts are Noor Ul Hassan Malik, Shafat Ali, Shiraz Uppal, Jabbar Abbas, Ali Saad, Muhammad Ramzan, Jahangir Khan, Ghulam Haider, Rozi Khan, Akhtar Qureshi, Khan Muhammad Chachar and Rubina Kazmi.

The literary recipients include Farida Hafeez, Agha Gul, Noor Khan Muhammad Hasni, Khalid Fateh Muhammad, Haleem Qureshi, Manzoom Ali, Sherbaz Ali Khan Barcha, the late Muhammad Siddique G Memon, Prof Dr Haroon-ur-Rasheed Tabassum and Qaiser Abbas Sabir.

Athlete Faiqa Riaz is the sole sports recipient in the category, while seven journalists, Muhammad Riaz Khan, Shoaib Ahmed, Ammar Masood, Dr Maria Zulfiqar, Adil Shahzaib, Hammad Hassan and Tasawwar Arafat, have also been selected.

Pride of Performance for 46 recipients

Another 46 individuals will receive the President’s Award for Pride of Performance, with most of the honours going to figures from the performing and visual arts.

Actors and directors on the list include Mahmood Aslem, Sarfraz Hussain Ansari, M Ehtesham Warsi, Arshad Hussain, Ghazala Kaifi, Khawaja Saleem Ahmad, Shazma Haleem, Syeda Maria Wasti and Sania Saeed.

Music recipients include sarangi players Ustad Mazhar Umrao Bundu Khan and Zohaib Hassan, singer Rafia Bano, classical musician Jahangir Iqbal, Nadeem Salamat, Shahbaz Ali, Gulshan Ara Syed, the late Talib Hussain Dard, Mushtaq Shifai, Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan and choreographers Shaukat Hussain Samrat and Syed Wahab Hussain Shah.

Visual arts and crafts recipients include Aftab Zafar, Tayyeba Aziz, Aleem Dad Khan, Allah Jurio, Sheikh Muhammad Yousaf, Ameer Buksh, Nasir Shahzad, Muhammad Imran Qureshi and Hidayat Ullah Khan.

Six sports figures, wrestler Bashir Bhola, shooter Kishmala Talat, squash player Noor Zaman, ramp jumper Sultan Muhammad Golden, boxer Muhammad Waseem and cricketer Sadiq Muhammad, have also been selected. Journalist Syed Hammad Ghaznavi and photojournalist Muhammad Amir Khan are among the recipients.

91 gallantry awards approved

Security and law-enforcement personnel account for the largest bloc of gallantry honours, with 91 decorations approved this year.

Of these, 48 personnel will receive the Sitara-i-Shuja’at, 24 the Tamgha-i-Shuja’at, and 19 the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz for gallantry and public service.

The gallantry honours are separate from the military awards approved for 1,172 serving members of the armed forces and civil armed forces.