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).
