Renowned filmmaker and actor Sarmad Khoosat has revealed that his name has been removed from the prestigious list of Presidential Awards. Khoosat took to his Instagram story to announce this development, just days before the official ceremony scheduled for Pakistan Day on March 23. “My name has vanished from the 14 August ’23 list of Presidential Awards that everyone ‘officially’ and unofficially congratulated me for”. Last year, in August, Khoosat was nominated for the Sitara-i-Imtiaz Award, but his name is now conspicuously absent from the list. The presidential awards are bestowed upon trailblazers for their significant contributions in their respective fields. Various figures from the entertainment industry have been nominated for diverse categories of the awards to acknowledge their noteworthy contributions. Actor Sajal Ali has been selected for acting, while Juggan Kazim has been chosen for anchoring/acting and both are set to receive Tamgha-i-Imtiaz. Abdul Wasay Chaudhry and Farooq Hassan have also been nominated for the same award in the categories of film/drama acting and hosting, respectively. Renowned qawaal/singer Rahat Ali Khan will be honoured with Hilal-i-Imtiaz for his exceptional contributions to the field of qawwali/singing. Adnan Siddiqui has been recognised for acting, hosting and production, Naseer Baig Mirza for compering, writing, and producing, Sheema Kermani for classical dancing/choreography and Shazia Manzoor for singing. All these esteemed personalities are set to receive the Pride of Performance Award. The removal of Sarmad Khoosat’s name from the list of awardees has sparked discussions within the industry regarding the selection process and criteria for these prestigious honours.