President to confer awards on 304 persons today

ISLAMABAD: The President on Monday (today) will confer awards on 304 Pakistanis and foreign nationals for their notable contribution in their respective fields on the occasion of Independence Day. The investiture ceremony will take place on Pakistan Day, March 23, 2024.

Those decorated with honours include one sitting and one former chief minister, counter-terrorism officers of the Intelligence Bureau and police, academician, scientists, poets, journalists, actors, etc. The Saudi defence minister and assistant defence minister as well as the Chinese vice premier and diplomats have been enlisted among those going to be honoured.

As many as five Pakistanis are being awarded Nishan-i-Imtiaz. They are Iftikhar Arif (poet), Islahuddin Siddique (former hockey captain), Syed Qaim Ali Shah (former chief minister of Sindh), Raja Zafarul Haq (PMLN Senator) and Dr Shamshad Akhtar (former governor of State Bank of Pakistan).

Two persons being granted Hilal-i-Pakistan are dignitaries from friendly countries Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (Saudi defence minister) and He Lifeng (Chinese vice premier). Sitara-i-Pakistan goes to assistant defence minister of Saudi Arabia, Engineer Talal bin Abdullah Al-Otaibi, and Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam being conferred on four Chinese diplomats Lou Zhaohui, Ning Jizhe, Nong Rong and Sha Zukang.

The gallantry award of Sitara-i-Shuja’at is being awarded to 18 counter-terrorism officials; 13 of them laid down their lives fighting against the enemy. The remaining five who are Ghazis and led the successful operations include three officers of Intelligence Bureau: Tariq Mehmood (joint director general), Muhammad Aamir Naseem (deputy director general) and Majid Saleem Malik (senior manager). Other two are from police service: Akhtar Hayat Khan (IGP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Muqaddas Haider (DIG in Karachi). Thirteen officials being awarded Sitara-i-Shuja’at posthumously are following three martyrs: Muhammad Younus (police constable from KP), Nizamullah (rescuer from KP police), Rahat Saleem (police constable from KP), Ghulam Abbas (head constable from Sindh police), Abdul Latif (police constable from Sindh), Saeed Ahmed (lift operator from Sindh), Ajmal Masih (sanitary worker from Sindh), Sepoy Muhammad Ramzan, Sepoy Shams Ullah, sub-inspector Muhammad Sohrab, painter Asad Ullah Khan, sepoy Israr Muhammad and sub-inspector Ziaullah Khan.

As many as seventeen Pakistanis are being awarded Hilal-i-Imtiaz including Dr Mukhtar Ahmed (Chairman Higher Education Commission), Rahat Ali Khan (renowned singer), Muhammad Anwar Masood (legendary poet), Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib (founder of Akhuwat Foundation), Mufti Abdul Shakoor (late minister who died in a road accident) and others.

Around fifty individuals will receive Sitara-i-Imtiaz who include film directors Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, Bilal Lashari, Satish Anand as well as chief minister Balochistan Abdul Qudoos Bezinjo, Wasif Nagi (journalist), Waqar Chohan (DG NAB), Mohsin Hassan Butt (DG FIA), Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman, Mirza Ikhtiar Baig (columnist), Naila Kiani (mountaineer), Fahad Haroon and others.

President’s pride of performance award will be conferred on 53 individuals. Included among them are artists like late Inayat Hussain Bhatti, Shazia Manzoor (singer), Ajab Gul (actor), Adnan Siddiqui, Hassan Askari, Sheema Karmani.

Similarly, journalists and columnists who are also being awarded this include Khalid Masood Khan, Sohail Warraich and Salman Ghani. Tamgha-i-Shujaat which is a gallantry award goes to 21 officers. Five of them are from the Intelligence Bureau: Farman Ullah (director), Bilal Riaz Burki (director), Syed Amer Akhtar (director), Azmat Ali Shah (deputy director) and Mujeeb Ullah (inspector). Five officials of Sindh police, four of KP police, three each of Balochistan and paramilitary forces have been awarded this. Of the entire lot, six were martyred during the course of operations against terrorists. They are Abdul Malik Kamangar (inspector of Sindh police), Deen Muhammad (sub inspector of Sindh police), Jatoi Khan Pitafi (constable of Sindh police), Muhammad Saleem (constable of Sindh police) and Muhammad Balach Nosherwani (Balochistan).

Around 118 citizens are being decorated with Tamgha-i-Imtiaz who include officers of the defence ministry, scientists, artists, educationists and journalists. Amjad Aziz Malik, Gharidah Farooqui, Shama Junejo, Waqar Satti, Farooq Adil, Fahad Hussain, Saleem Bukhari and Juggan Kazim are among the individuals from the media fraternity being granted this award. Tamgha-e-Khidmat will go to four individuals. They are Aziza Shimmi Kidwai, Muhammad Irfan Siddiqui, Karamat Ullah Chaudhry and Professor Amjad Shad.