President confers civil awards on 69 recipients for services in various fields

Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday conferred Pakistan’s civil awards on 69 individuals, including Pakistani nationals and foreign citizens, in recognition of their services in various fields.

The investiture ceremony was held at Aiwan-e-Sadr as part of Pakistan Day celebrations. The recipients were recognised for their contributions in sectors such as health, education, literature, journalism, public service, research, diplomacy, and the economy.

The ceremony was attended by federal ministers, the Chairman Senate, parliamentarians, members of civil society, diplomats, media personnel, and others.

The Nishan-i-Pakistan (posthumous) was conferred on former prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. His sister Sanam Bhutto received the award on his behalf.

Other notable recipients of awards included:

Nishan-i-Imtiaz (posthumous): Air Marshal (retd) Raja Shahid Hamid

Nishan-i-Khidmat: Sultan Ali Akbar Allana

Hilal-i-Shujaat (posthumous): SP Muhammad Ejaz Khan Shaheed, DSP Allama Iqbal Shaheed, DSP Sardar Hussain Shaheed, Constables Irshad Ali and Jahanzeb, Additional SHO Adnan Afridi Shaheed, SI Taimoor Shahzad Shaheed, LHC Mohammad Farooq Shaheed, Sepoy Muhammad Asif Shaheed, Allah Rakhio (late)

Hilal-i-Imtiaz: Dr Tauqir Hussain Shah, Capt (retd) Khurram Agha, Ali Haider Gilani, Khawaja Anver Majidd, Hussain Daud, Professor Dr Shaheryar, Dr Zaryab Setna, Javed Jabbar, Sadia Rashid, Aamir Hafeez Ibrahim, Jimmy Engineer, Umar Farooq, Dr Naveed Shirwani

Sitara-i-Shujaat (posthumous): Capt. (retd) Hamza Anjum Shaheed, Malik Sabz Ali Shaheed

Sitara-i-Imtiaz: Muhammad Samiur Rehman, Ahmad Ishaq Jahangir, Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Irfan Nawaz Mamon, Sardar Muhammad Aftab Ahmed Khan Watoo, Dr Hamid Ateeq Sarwar, Ali Salman Habib (late), Waqar ud din Syed, Ayaz Khan, Professor Dr Ziaul Haq, Imtiaz Hussain, Jameel Ahmad, Syed Azhar Hasnain Abidi, Zafar Waqar Taj, Muhammad Hussain alias Murad Sadpara (late), Bahrose Hussain Baloch, Sana Hashwani, Safinaz Muneer

Presidential Prize of Performance Award: Naveed Ahmad Fareed, Rashid Waheed Khawaja, Aniqa Bano, Barkat Shah

Sitara-i-Quaid-e-Azam: Haydar Qurbonov, Dr Christine Brunhilde

Tamgha-i-Pakistan: Agostino Da Polenza, Professor Valevia Piacentini

Tamgha-i-Imtiaz: Syed Shakeel Shah, Ashhad Jawwad, Amin Muhammad Lakhani, Rehan Mahtab Chawla, Syed Jawad Hussain Jafferi, Professor Dr Usman Qamar, Dr Sara Qureshi, Dr Ikram Ullah, Muhammad Yousaf Khan, Sarwar Muneer Rao, Hassan Ayub, Dr Syed Abid Mehdi Kazmi

Tamgha-i-Quaid-e-Azam: Mir Nadir Khan Magsi, Dr Xinmin Liu

The civil awards are conferred annually on Pakistan Day to honour individuals for their exceptional contributions in their respective fields.