Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari honored 69 national and foreign individuals with civil awards on Pakistan Day for their outstanding work in various fields. The prestigious ceremony took place at the President’s House (Aiwan-e-Sadr), where recipients received high honors like Nishan-e-Pakistan, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Nishan-e-Khidmat, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Shujaat, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Shujaat, Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Presidential Medal of Excellence, Tamgha-e-Pakistan, and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party founder, the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto( Shaheed), was awarded the Nishan-e-Pakistan (posthumously) for his remarkable services to the country, democracy, and people. His daughter, Sanam Bhutto, accepted the award on his behalf. Air Marshal (Retired) Raja Shahid Hamid (late) received the Nishan-e-Imtiaz (posthumously), and Sultan Ali Akbar Allana was given the Nishan-e-Khidmat.
Several police officers, including SP Muhammad Ijaz Khan Shaheed, DSP Allama Iqbal Shaheed, DSP Sardar Hussain Shaheed, Constable Irshad Ali, and Jahanzaib, were awarded the Hilal-e-Shujaat (posthumously) for their bravery. Recipients of the Hilal-e-Imtiaz included Dr. Tauqeer Hussain Shah, Captain (Retired) Khurram Agha, Ali Haider Gilani, Khawaja Anwar Majeed, Hussain Dawood, Professor Dr. Shahryar, Dr. Zeryab Setna, Javed Jabbar, Ms. Sadia Rashid, Aamir Hafeez Ibrahim, Jimmy Engineer, Umar Farooq, and Dr. Naveed Sherwani, among others.
The Sitara-e-Shujaat (posthumously) went to Captain (Retired) Hamza Anjum Shaheed and Malik Sabz Ali Shaheed. Sitara-e-Imtiaz recipients included Muhammad Sameer Ur-Rahman, Ahmed Ishaq Jahangir, Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Irfan Nawaz Memon, Sardar Muhammad Aftab Ahmed Khan Wattoo, Dr. Hamid Ateeq Sarwar, Ali Salman Habib (posthumously), Waqaruddin Syed, Ayaz Khan, Professor Dr. Zia-ul-Haq, Imtiaz Hussain, Jameel Ahmed, Syed Azhar Husnain Abidi, Zafar Waqar Taj, Muhammad Hussain (alias Murad Sadpara, posthumously), Behroze Hussain Baloch, Sana Hashwani, and Safi Naz Munir.
The Presidential Medal of Excellence was awarded to Naveed Ahmed Fareed, Rashid Waheed Khawaja, Aniqa Bano, and Barkat Shah. The Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam went to Haider Qurbanov and Dr. Christine Brunhild, while Tamgha-e-Pakistan was given to Agostino Da Polenza and Professor Vilvia Piacentini. Tamgha-e-Imtiaz recipients included Syed Shakil Shah, Ashhad Jawad, Amin Muhammad Lakhani, Rehan Mehtab Chawla, Syed Jawad Hussain Jafri, Professor Dr. Usman Qamar, Dr. Sara Qureshi, Dr. Ikramullah, Muhammad Yousuf Khan, Sarwar Munir Rao, Hassan Ayub, Dr. Syed Abid Mehdi Kazmi, and Mir Nadir Khan Magsi. Dr. Shen Min Liu also received the Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam.
The event was attended by federal ministers, the Senate Chairman, parliament members, diplomats, civil society representatives, media personnel and other dignitaries.
