President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday conferred Pakistan’s civil awards on 135 citizens as well as foreign nationals on Pakistan Day, in recognition of their excellence and gallantry in their respective fields.
The awards were conferred at an investiture ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr here, also attended by the cabinet members, diplomats and family members of the recipients of the awards.
The president distributed the civil awards in 10 categories including Nishan-i-Imtiaz, Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Quaid–Azam, Sitara-i-Shujaat, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Presidential Award for Pride of Performance, Tamgha-i-Shujaata and Tamgha-i-Khidmat.
The president conferred Nishan-i-Imtiaz on Sartaj Aziz, Mir Hasil Bazinjo and late Justice (Retd) Rana Bhagwandas for their public service; Ahmed Ali Chagla (art), late Sufi Ghulam Tabassum (poetry), Muhammad Qavi Khan ( (drama, film) and Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan (sports).
The Hilal-i-Pakistan award was given to Ambassador (retd) Robin Lynn Raphel for her services to Pakistan.
The president conferred the Hilal-i-Imtiaz award on Khawaja Abdul Hayee (education), Engineer Professor Ahmed Farooq Bazai (academic), Dr Talat Naseer Pasha (science), Hakeem Rizwan Hafeez (health), Dr Raja Ali Raza (engineering), Raees Ahmed (arts), late Amjad Islam Amjad (arts), late Arif Nizami, Mujibur Rehman Shami and Altaf Hassan Qureshi (journalism); Bilquees Bano Edhi (social services), Muhammad Ramzan Chhipa, Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera, late Maroof Afzal, Senator Talha Mahmood, Capt (retd) Sher Alam Mehsud, Justice (retd) Fazal Karim, Sultan Ali Alana and Hilalur Rehman (public service); Dr Gohar Ejaz (philanthropy) and Khawaja Masood Akhtar (sports exports).
The president conferred the Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam award on Dr James M. Shera for his services to Pakistan.
The Sitara-i-Shujaat award was given to Malik Muhammad Hassan, late Malik Gangrai, Malik Shumali Khan, late Fiza Tariq Malik, Raja Mustafa Ali, Muhammad Afzal Sheikh and Sajid Kiani (Gallantry) and Mansoor Ahmed Khan (services to Pakistan).
The president awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz to Muhammad Afzal Javed and Zafarulah Khan (services to Pakistan), Dr Saeed Akhtar (medicine), late Humayun Khan (agriculture), Dr Sharif Malik (medicine), Mahfoozur Rehman (education), Fakhar-e-Alam (hosting), late Saghar Siddiqui (poetry), late Shama Khalid (art); late Ziauddin, Javed Chaudhry and Nadeem Malik (journalism); Dr Anees Ahmed and Maulana Hanif Jalandhari (religious scholar), and Waqar Ahmed Malik (public service).
Among others who were also conferred the Sitara-i-Imtiaz award included Syed Murataz Mahmood (public service), Imdadullah Bosal (public service) and Mirza Ishtiaq Baig (social service); Lt Gen Noman Zakaria, Major General Muhammad Idris Dastgir, Brigadier Salman Rashid Hussain, Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Asim Ali Khan, Samina Chagali, Dr Amir Malik, Tahir Rai and Riazuddin Sheikh (public service); Behroz Sabzwari and Tariq Mahmood (art).
The president awarded Presidential Award for Pride of Performance to Dr Ayesha Siddiqa (medicine), Anjum Shaheen (acting); Taskeen Zafar, Syed Shamoon Hashmi and late Prof. Jahazeb Niaz Khan (art); Shahida and Irfan Mehsud (sports); and Tika Khan and Hafiz Tahir Khalil (journalism).
In recognition of their gallantry, the Tamgha-i-Shujaat award was conferred on Amir Nawaz Shaheed, Muhammad Kamran Shaheed, Sher Ahmed, Tanveer Hussain Tonio, Amjad Ahmed Sheikh, Mazhar Nawaz Sheikh, Bashir Ahmed Barohi, Zeeshan Ahmed, Naved Ahmed, Ziaur Rehman, Javedullah Shaheed, Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, Sohail Zafar Chattha, Sadiq Shah, Raja Muhammad Majid, Bilal Raja, Mubashir Saleem, Minhas Ahmed Khan, Ijaz Hafeez, Aqeel Ahmed Siddiqui and Waseem Ahmed Khan.
President Alvi conferred Tamgha-i-Imtiaz on Sindh Governor Kamran Tesori, Achad Bhuglah (services to Pakistan), Jehan Ara (IT), Uzma Batool (medicine), Dr Rizwan Uppal (health), Dr Tanvir Khaliq (medicine), Dr Syed Abbas Raza (medicine), Prof. Dr Khalid Mehmood (medicine), Der Zahoorul Haq (higher education) Dr Samreen Hussain (education), Rustam Ali Lone (art), Arif Khan (art), Nigar Nazar (art), Dr Ikramullah (Qiraat) and Bisma Maroof (sports).
The recognition of their public service, the president conferred Tamgha-i-Imtiaz on Cristina VON Sperling Afridi, Saima Saleem, SP Sumera Azam, Shehzad Afzal Khan, Major Muhammad Ali Tehseen, Major Atif Naveed, Saleh Azeem, Insaf Shah, Amin, Khawaja Adnan Zaheer, Ahmed Farooq, Imran Rasool, Nadeem Akhtar Sherazi, Tahir Akbar Awan, Syed Ali Hasnain Hussain and Dr Asif Bashir. Whereas Dr Shahid Masood got the said award for his services in (medicine), Khansa Maria (literature) and Amin Haswani (philanthropy) and Amir Ilyas Rana (journalism).
The president awarded Tamgha-i-Khidmat to Chaudhry Pervez Iqbal Lusar for his services to Pakistan.