President approves conferment of awards upon Pakistani, foreign nationals

Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari, on the occasion of Independence Day, on Wednesday approved the conferment of awards upon 104 Pakistani and foreign nationals in recognition of their services to Pakistan.

These awards would be given at a special ceremony on 23rd March next year.

Former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Shaheed would be conferred upon Nishan-e-Pakistan for its marvellous contribution to the field of public service.  In sports, Arshad Nadeem will get Hilal-e-Imtiaz and Murad Sadpara Sitara-e-Imtiaz, while Nasir Kazmi will be awarded Nishan-e-Imtiaz posthumously in the realm of literature.

Hilal-e-Pakistan will be conferred upon Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman Al-Saud in recognition of his services to Pakistan.

In the field of Science and Technology, Amir Hafeez Ibrahim will be awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali and Sardar Muhammad Aftab Ahmed Khan Watto Sitar-e-Imtiaz, while Dr Sara Qureshi, Dr Rafiuddin and Professor Dr Usman Qamar will be given Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.

Sadia Rasheed will be honoured with Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Zia-ul-Haq, Dr Sulaiman Shahabuddin and Syed Azhar Hussain Abidi Sitara-e-Imtiaz, while Barkat Shah, Abdul Rasheed Kakar and Aniqa Bano will be given President's Award for Pride of Performance in the field of education.

In the health sector, Hilal-e-Imtiaz will be conferred upon Professor Dr Shehryar and Dr Zaryab Setna, 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 be awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz, while Arshad Aziz Malik, Bakhtiyar Ahmed and Barrister Zafarullah will be given Tamgha-e-Imtiaz. Fareeha Pervaiz, Hamid Rana, Shiba Arshad and Naveed Bhatti will get President's Award for Pride of Performance.

Javed Jabbar will be awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Salman Awan, Zafar Waqar Taj and Muneeza Shamsi Sitara-e-Imtiaz in the field of literature. Syed Jawad Hussain Jaffery Tamgha-e-Imtiaz and Ambreen Haseeb will be given President's Award for Pride of Performance.

Besides, Maqsood Ahmed, Emad Shakeel Butt, Rehman Ishtiaq and Mir Nadir Khan Magsi will be awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz and Amir Ashfaq President's Award for Pride of Performance in the field of sports.

In social and public service, Mian Aziz Ahmed, Hunaid Lakhani, Sana Hashwani and Safinaz Munir will be given Sitar-e-Imtiaz, while Khawaja Anwar Majeed and Hussain Dawood will be awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz.

In the category of taxpayers and exporters, Sitara-e-Imtiaz will be conferred upon Syed Imran Ali Shah, Nazimuddin Feroz, Imtiaz Hussain, Adnan Niaz, Zahid Ahmed, and Syed Asad Hussain Zaidi.

Deputy Commissioner Panjgur Zakir Hussain Baloch will be awarded Sitara-e-Shujaat, while Captain retired Muhammad Khurram Agha, Dr Syed Tauqir Hussain Shah and Umar Farooq will be given 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 be awarded 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 conferred 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 be conferred with Sitara-e-Shujaat, while Malik Mehmood Jan Shaheed, Saeed Khan, Samiullah Khan Shaheed, Sahib Khan and Dr Shafi Muhammad Bizinjo will be given Tamgha-e-Shujaat.

The President also approved to confer Hilal-i-Quaid-e-Azam on Fu Zhiheng and Mohammad Saif Al Suwaidi, Sitara-i-Pakistan on Majid bin Abdullah Al Kassabi and Engineer Abdullah Al-Swaha, while Sitara-i-Quaid-e-Azam on Haydar Qurbonov and Dr. Christine Schmotzer.

Tamgha-i-Pakistan wil 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 while

Diana McArthur will be conferred upon Tamgha-i-Khidmat.