President confers 112 civil awards on local, foreign luminaries

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari Saturday conferred Pakistan’s highest civil awards on a number of citizens of Pakistan as well as foreign nationals in recognition of their distinction, excellence, contributions and show of valour in different fields.

A total of 112 civil awards were conferred at a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, which was attended by ministers, members of the diplomatic corps and family members of the recipients of awards.

Prominent among the recipients were former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, former caretaker finance minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar, politicians including Raja Zafarul Haq, Mufti Abdul Shakoor (late), mountaineer Naila Kiani, hockey player Salahuddin, poet Anwar Masood, senior journalist, columnist and analyst Sohail Warraich, poet Iftikhar Arif, legendary filmstar Shabnam and singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

The foreign nationals who received the awards included Country Director Asian Development Bank Yong Ye, UNDP’s Knut Ostby, USAID’s Samantha Power, Grand Mufti of Bosnia & Herzegovina Dr Husein, Saudi economist Dr Muhammad Sulaiman al Jasseer and Qatari economist Khalifa Jassim al Kuwari.

The recipients of Nishan-e-Imtiaz were Muhammad Hafeez Qureshi (late) (nuclear science), Iftikhar Hussain Arif (literature poetry), Islahuddin Siddiqui (hockey), Syed Qaim Ali Shah (public service), Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq (public service), Dr Shamshad Akhtar (public service), Air Marshal (retd) Najib Akhtar (public service).

Hilal-e-Imtiaz: Brig Sarfraz Ali (late), Strategic Planning & Development; Prof Dr Shahid Mahmood Baig, Science; Prof Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Education; Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan, Education; Prof Dr Muhammad Umar, Education/ Medical Sciences; Rahat Ali Khan, Arts (Qawwali/ Singing); Mohammad Ahmed Shah, Arts (Culture); Mehmood Ahmed Tahir Bhatti, Film Direction & Fashion Designing; Muhammad Anwar Masood, Literature (Poetry); Zahid Malik (late) Journalism; Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib, Social Services; Ahmad Irfan Aslam, Public Service; Raja Naeem Akbar, Public Service; Lt. Gen. (retd) Muhammad Akram Khan, Public Service; Brig. Atif Rafique, Public Service; Dr. Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan, Public Service; Syed Tariq Fatemi, Public Service; Tariq Bajwa, Public Service; Tariq Mahmood Pasha, Public Service; Shahid Khan, Public Service; Sibtain Fazal Haleem, Public Service; Capt. (retd) Zahid Saeed, Public Service; Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Public Service; Mufti Abdul Shakoor (late), Public Service; Nasir Mahmood Khosa, Public Service; Javaid Aslam, Public Service; Fawad Hasan Fawad, Public Service; Dr Usman Anwar, Public Service; Prof Dr Adil Najam, Education; Bilal Siddique Kamyana and Tanweer Ahmed.

Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam: Sultan Bin Abdul Rehman, Khalifa Bin Jassim Al-Kuwari, Yong Ye, Knut Ostby, Philippe Steinmetz, Dr Sebastian Paust, Michal Rossman and Samantha Power.

Sitara-e-Shujaat: Tariq Mahmood, Gallantry; Muhammad Aamir Naseem, Gallantry; Majid Saleem Malik, Gallantry; Akhtar Hayat Khan, Gallantry; Lt. Cdr. (retd) Muqaddas Haider, Gallantry; Muhammad Younas (Shaheed), Nizamullah (Shaheed), Rahat Saleem (Shaheed), Ghulam Abbas Leghari (Shaheed), Abdul Latif Nok (Shaheed), Muhammad Saeed Ahmed (Shaheed), Ajmal Masih (Late), Muhammad Ramzan (Shaheed), Shamsullah (Shaheed), Muhammad Sohrab (Shaheed), Gallantry; Asadullah Khan (Shaheed), Israr Muhammad, Ziaullah Khan, Mir Zubair Mahmood and Muhammad Adnan.

Hilal-e-Shujaat: Mushtaq Ahmed Sukehra, Gallantry.

Sitara-e-Imtiaz: Shama Hafeez, Qari Hafiz Buzurg Shah Al Azhari, Prof Dr Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Faakhir Mehmood, Jharna Basak Shabnam, Naila Kiani, Shoaib Anwar Malik, Fahad Haroon, Muhammad Sarwar Gondal, Dr Kazim Niaz, Muhammad Sulaeh Ahmed Faruqui, Farhan Faruqui, Dr Muhammad Farooque Hassan, Duraid Qureshi, Yasir Malik and Abdul Quddoos Bizenjo.

President Pride of Performance: Farrah Mahmood Rana, Suhail Sarwar Sultan Warraich, Lt. Gen Ahsan Gulrez and Lt Col. Junaid Ali Zulfiqar.

Sitara-e Quaid-e-Azam: Husein EF Kavazovich, Salma Salman Zahid

Tamgha-e-Shujaat: Muhammad Usman, Syed Amer Akhtar and Muhammad Bilal Riaz Burki.

Tamgha-e-Imtiaz: Dr Muhammad Usman Akram, Prof Dr Rizwan Taj, Waqar Maqsood Satti, Fahad Saleem Malik, Prof Dr Mushtaq Ahmed, Syed Feroz Alam Shah, Dr Farooq Adil, Rashid Mahmood, Aisha Khan, Muhammad Tanvir Butt, Faisal Siddique Khan, Dr Rizwan Taj, Prof Dr Riazwana Chaudhry, Muhammad Zubair Shaheen, Murlidhar Dawani, Sarah Ahmed, Dr Khalid Bin Shaheen and Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, Dr Manzoor Ahmed (late), Allah Ditta Abbasi (late) and Shamim Ashraf Khawaja (late).

While Abdullah Al Matahari was awarded Sitara-e-Pakistan.