ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday approved several summaries sent by the prime minister, including the conferment of military and civil awards and a special remission of sentences for eligible prisoners.

According to the Presidency, President Zardari approved military awards for 1,172 personnel of the armed forces and civil armed forces in recognition of their services.

In addition, the president approved the conferment of national civil awards on 355 individuals on the occasion of the country’s Independence Day, honouring achievement across science, engineering, education, medicine, the arts, literature, sports, journalism, social welfare, philanthropy and public service, alongside a large slate of gallantry decorations dominated by personnel of the Federal Constabulary who were killed in the line of duty.

The awards, announced on August 14, will be formally conferred at an investiture ceremony on Pakistan Day, March 23.

Nishan-i-Pakistan

The country’s highest civil award for a foreign national goes to Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, United Arab Emirates.

Nishan-i-Quaid-i-Azam

Two physicians who attended to the founder of Pakistan, Dr Jal Rattanji Patel (Late) and Dr Jal Daeboo (Late), are recognised more than seven decades on.

Nishan-i-Imtiaz

Six government figures and one literary personality will be conferred the award: poet and writer Asad Muhammad Khan, Ishaq Dar, Mohsin Naqvi, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Ahad Khan Cheema, Bilal Azhar Kayani and the late Austro-Hungarian Muslim scholar Muhammad Asad (Late).

Hilal-i-Pakistan

Six foreign dignitaries were recognised for their services to Pakistan: Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan, Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, Deemah Al Yahya, Russian Deputy PM Alexey Logvinovich Overchuk, and Hiroji Kataoka.

Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam

The award went to Carey Schofield, an educationist working in Chitral.

Sitara-i-Pakistan

Three Turkish ministers and a Spanish senator were honoured: Hakan Fidan, Yasar Gular, Omer Bolat and Senator Vicente Azpitarte.

Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam

The award went to six recipients drawn from China, Spain, France and Malaysia. They included Yang Baoning of the China Academy of Space Technology, Master Yuan Xikun, Professor Zhou Yushu, Antonio Gutierrez Limones, Pascal Allizard, and Dr Maszlee bin Malik.

Hilal-i-Imtiaz

The award was conferred on fifteen recipients across the realms of technology, higher education, medicine, broadcasting, letters, the senior bureaucracy and the diaspora.

These included Interactive Group CEO Dr Shahid Mahmud, NUTECH Rector Lt Gen (r) Moazzam Ejaz, renowned transplant surgeon Dr Faisal Saud Dar, HUM Network’s Sultana Siddiqi, and poets Ejaz Rahim and Khurshid Ul Hasan Rizvi.

Five senior public servants were also honoured, including DG IB Fuad Asadullah, AGP Mansoor Usman Awan, Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal, FBR chief Rashid Mahmood Lagrial, and Establishment Secretary Barrister Nabeel A. Awan.

The remaining awards went under the services to Pakistan head to Saudi Assistant Minister for Investment Ibrahim Al-Mubarak, and to three overseas Pakistanis: Dr Ghulam Murtaza in the UK, the late Prof Ahmed Ali in China, and Sardar Muhammad Ilyas Khan in Saudi Arabia.

Sitara-i-Imtiaz

In science and higher education, the award went to Kohat University of Science and Technology VC Prof Dr Syed Zafar Ilyas and Balochistan Public Service Commission member Prof Dr Mudassir Asrar, along with ICCBS Director and Unesco Chair Prof Dr Muhammad Raza Shah, FJMU Lahore VC Prof Dr Khalid Masood Gondal, PIDE VC Dr Rashid Amjad, and Taaleem Foundation founder Dr Zafar Iqbal Qadir.

Two of the five medical awards are posthumous, going to bone marrow transplantation pioneer Prof Dr Tahir Shamsi (Late) and infectious diseases specialist Dr Naseem Salahuddin (Late). The others went to SICHN Executive Director Prof Dr Syed Jamal Raza, Battagram neurosurgeon Dr Shah Khalid, and physician Prof Dr Muhammad Khurram.

Ten artists were recognised: actor Balqees Bano (Nisho Begum), comedian Iftikhar Ahmed Thakur, naat khawan Syed Fasih Uddin Soharwardhy, composer and compere Shakir Hussain, singer Taranam Naz, Sufi opera singer Saira John Peter, the late painter and art historian Abida Ehsan (posthumously), painter Raja Changez Sultan, theatre and TV artist Muhammad Naeem Tahir, and miniature painter Bashir Ahmed.

In literature, the award went to short story writer Shakeel Adilzada, Iqbal scholar Prof Brig (r) Waheed Uz Zaman Tariq, poet Maqsood Hussain Jafri, naat writer Riaz ul Haq Tahir Riaz Majeed, writer Muhammad Hafeez Khan, historian Prof Dr Muhammad Saleem Mazhar, novelist Hashim Nadeem, and poet Syed Ghulam Abbas (Muhsin Naqvi).

Boxing coach Atta Mohammad Kakar and martial artist and yoga pioneer Dr Waseem A Tai were honoured in sports, journalists Muhammad Saleh Zaafir and Haji Nawaz Raza in journalism, WHO technical officer Dr Maryam Mallick and Nayyab Ali in social welfare, and Shanawar Khan in philanthropy.

Twenty-eight public servants also received the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, while under gallantry and public service, the award went to Ahmad Arifeen and to three Punjab police officers recognised for the Kacha operation — IGP Abdul Kareem, DIG Waqas Hassan and DIG Tanveer Hussain Tunio. Danish citizen of Pakistani origin Justice Muhammad Ahsan and UAE-based Haji Khan Zaman Saroor were honoured for services to Pakistan.

Tamgha-i-Imtiaz

The Tamgha-i-Imtiaz is the largest single category on the list. In science, it went to One Health and AMR focal person Dr Sajjad Hussain, PIEAS Deputy Chief Scientist Prof Dr Aneela Zameer Jaffery and GIS specialist Dr Urooj Saeed, and in engineering to UET Peshawar VC Dr Muhammad Sadiq and PIEAS Principal Engineer Prof Dr Naeem-ul-Haq Tariq.

Sixteen educationists were honoured: Women University Mardan and Swabi VC Prof Dr Ghazala Yasmeen, AIOU VC Prof Dr Nasir Mahmood, LUMS Dean Prof Dr Faisal Bari, former LCWU VC Prof Dr Sabiha Mansoor, University of Loralai VC Prof Engr Dr Ehsan Ullah Kakar, IBCC chief Dr Ghulam Ali Mallah, TCF’s Riaz Ahmed Kamlani, retired FDE principals Sabah Faisal and Muhammad Rafique Malik, Cambridge Advisors Network co-founder Syed Azhar Afaq Rizvi, former Sindh High Court judge Qazi Khalid Ali, Diamer-Astore Education Director Faqir Ullah, Abdul Sattar, researcher Dr Ruhi Khalid, CPSP fellow supervisor Prof Dr Sardar Muhammad Ali Ayaz Sadiq, and educationist and philanthropist Yasmeen Dadabhai.

In medicine, the award went to CDA Hospital surgery head Dr Naeem Taj, Quetta cardiac surgeon Dr Abdul Wasay, Hashmanis Group chairman Dr Mohammad Sharif Hashmani, and bariatric and laparoscopic surgeon Dr Maaz Ul Hassan.

Twelve artists were recognised: actor and anchor Noor Ul Hassan Malik, host Shafat Ali, singer and composer Shiraz Uppal, singer Jabbar Abbas, painter Ali Saad, khussa maker Muhammad Ramzan, shoemaker Jahangir Khan, stone carver Ghulam Haider, Balochi chawat maker Rozi Khan, naat khawans Akhtar Qureshi and Khan Muhammad Chachar, and fashion designer Rubina Kazmi.

Ten literary figures were honoured: writer Farida Hafeez, novelist Agha Gul, writer Noor Khan Muhammad Hasni, writer and translator Khalid Fateh Muhammad, poet Haleem Qureshi, writers Manzoom Ali and Sherbaz Ali Khan Barcha, the late historian and archaeologist Muhammad Siddique G Memon (posthumously), Iqbal scholar Prof Dr Haroon-ur-Rasheed Tabassum, and author Qaiser Abbas Sabir.

Athlete Faiqa Riaz was the sole sports recipient. Seven journalists were recognised — Muhammad Riaz Khan, culture journalist Shoaib Ahmed, Ammar Masood, news anchors Dr Maria Zulfiqar, Adil Shahzaib and Hammad Hassan, and Tasawwar Arafat. Religious scholars Qari Rooh Ullah Madani, Hafiz Asad Ubaid, Syed Riaz Hussain Najfi and Bishop Humphri Sarfraz Peters were honoured under social welfare, while Haripur Chamber of Commerce President Atif Ikram Sheikh, National Forum of Women with Disabilities Chairperson Abia Akram and Pakistan Association of the Blind President Riaz Hussain Memon were recognised for philanthropy.

President’s Pride of Performance

Forty-six people will receive the President’s Award for Pride of Performance, most of them from the performing and visual arts.

Thirty arts recipients were named. Among the actors and directors are Mahmood Aslem, Sarfraz Hussain Ansari, M Ehtesham Warsi, Arshad Hussain, Ghazala Kaifi, Khawaja Saleem Ahmad, Shazma Haleem, Syeda Maria Wasti and Sania Saeed.

From music, the award went to sarangi players Ustad Mazhar Umrao Bundu Khan and Zohaib Hassan, singer Rafia Bano, classical musician Jahangir Iqbal (Ustad Ejaz Tawakal Khan), BJS Qawwal Group’s Nadeem Salamat, harmonium soloist Shahbaz Ali, ghazal singer Gulshan Ara Syed, the late folk singer Talib Hussain Dard (posthumously), singers Mushtaq Shifai and Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan (Zulfi), and choreographers Shaukat Hussain Samrat (Pappu Samrat) and Syed Wahab Hussain Shah.

In the visual arts and crafts, it went to painter and illustrator Aftab Zafar, painter and sculptor Tayyeba Aziz, artist Aleem Dad Khan, boreendo maker Allah Juri...

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