———- President confers national awards on 104 Pakistanis, foreigners on Independence Day
———- Ex-PM ZAB to get Nishan-e-Pakistan posthumously
———- Hilal-e-Imtiaz to be awarded to Olympian Nadeem
By Asgar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: On Independence Day, President Asif Ali Zardari approved awards for 104 individuals in recognition of their services to Pakistan.
The awards will be presented at a ceremony on March 23 next year.
Former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Shaheed will receive the Nishan-e-Pakistan for his public service contributions. In sports, Arshad Nadeem will be awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz and Murad Sadpara Sitara-e-Imtiaz. Nasir Kazmi will receive the Nishan-e-Imtiaz posthumously for his contributions to literature.
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman Al-Saud will be honoured with Hilal-e-Pakistan for his services to Pakistan. Sultan Ali Allana will receive Nishan-e-Khidmat for public service. In Science and Technology, Amir Hafeez Ibrahim will receive Hilal-e-Imtiaz, while Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali and Sardar Muhammad Aftab Ahmed Khan Watto will get Sitara-e-Imtiaz. Dr Sara Qureshi, Dr Rafiuddin, and Professor Dr Usman Qamar will be awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
For education, Sadia Rasheed will be honoured with Hilal-e-Imtiaz, and Zia-ul-Haq, Dr Sulaiman Shahabuddin, and Syed Azhar Hussain Abidi will receive Sitara-e-Imtiaz. Barkat Shah, Abdul Rasheed Kakar, and Aniqa Bano will get the President’s Award for Pride of Performance.
In the health sector, Professor Dr Shehryar and Dr Zaryab Setna will receive Hilal-e-Imtiaz, while Dr Akifullah Khan, Dr Syed Abid Mehdi Kazmi, and Ikramullah Khan will be awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
In the field of arts, Colin David will get Sitara-e-Imtiaz, and Arshad Aziz Malik, Bakhtiyar Ahmed, and Barrister Zafarullah will be awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz. Fareeha Pervaiz, Hamid Rana, Shiba Arshad, and Naveed Bhatti will receive the President’s Award for Pride of Performance.
Javed Jabbar will receive Hilal-e-Imtiaz, and Salman Awan, Zafar Waqar Taj, and Muneeza Shamsi will get Sitara-e-Imtiaz for their contributions to literature. Syed Jawad Hussain Jaffery will receive Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, and Ambreen Haseeb will be awarded the President’s Award for Pride of Performance.
Maqsood Ahmed, Emad Shakeel Butt, Rehman Ishtiaq, and Mir Nadir Khan Magsi will receive Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, and Amir Ashfaq will be honoured with the President’s Award for Pride of Performance in sports.
In social and public service, Mian Aziz Ahmed, Hunaid Lakhani, Sana Hashwani, and Safinaz Munir will receive Sitara-e-Imtiaz, and Khawaja Anwar Majeed and Hussain Dawood will get Hilal-e-Imtiaz.
In the category of taxpayers and exporters, Sitara-e-Imtiaz will be awarded to Syed Imran Ali Shah, Nazimuddin Feroz, Imtiaz Hussain, Adnan Niaz, Zahid Ahmed, and Syed Asad Hussain Zaidi.
Deputy Commissioner Panjgur Zakir Hussain Baloch will receive Sitara-e-Shujaat. Captain retired Muhammad Khurram Agha, Dr Syed Tauqir Hussain Shah, and Umar Farooq will get Hilal-e-Imtiaz.
Dr Rubaba Khan Buledi, Dr Hamid Atique Sarwar, Waqassuddin Syed, Jamil Ahmed, Ayaz Khan, Ahmed Ishaq Jahangir, and Irfan Nawaz Memon will receive Sitara-e-Imtiaz.
Syed Shakeel Shah, Ashhad Jawad, Rubab Sikandar, Muhammad Yousaf Khan, Cardinal Joseph Coutts, Rehman Mehtab Chawla, Rear Admiral Tanvir, and Amir Mehmood Lakhani will be awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
Hilal-e-Shujaat posthumously will be awarded to martyred Sup-Inspector Taimur Shehzad, Sepoy Muhammad Asif, SP Muhammad Ijaz Khan, DSP Sardar Hussain, DSP Allama Iqbal, LHC Muhammad Farooq, Additional SHO Adnan Afridi, Allah Rakhio Nandwani, Constables Jahanzeb, and Irshad Ali.
Malik Sabz Ali Shaheed and Captain retired Hamza Anjum will receive Sitara-e-Shujaat, while Malik Mehmood Jan Shaheed, Saeed Khan, Samiullah Khan Shaheed, Sahib Khan, and Dr Shafi Muhammad Bizinjo will be honoured with Tamgha-e-Shujaat.
Hilal-i-Quaid-e-Azam will be awarded to Fu Zhiheng and Mohammad Saif Al Suwaidi. Sitara-i-Pakistan will be given to Majid bin Abdullah Al Kassabi and Engineer Abdullah Al-Swaha, while Sitara-i-Quaid-e-Azam will be awarded to Haydar Qurbonov and Dr. Christine Schmotzer.
Tamgha-i-Pakistan will be awarded to Mountaineer Lukas Woerle, Dr. Aurore Dither, Prof. Valeria Fiorani Piacentini, and Agostino Da Polenza. Tamgha-i-Quaid-e-Azam will be conferred on Zhang Baozhong and Xinmiin Liu, and Diana McArthur will receive Tamgha-i-Khidmat.
