Musharraf Confers Civil, Military Awards
'Pakistan Times' National News Desk

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf on Friday conferred civil and military awards on outstanding individuals at an investiture ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Pakistan Day, Friday.Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Chairman Senate, Speaker National Assembly, Members of Federal Cabinet, Members of Parliament, Services Chiefs, Islamabad-based diplomats and prominent citizens attended the ceremony.

The awards are in recognition of the contribution of men and women who have rendered meritorious service to the country in their respective fields or performed exemplary acts of gallantry.

The Civil Award ceremonies were also held in the provincial headquarters in addition to the investiture ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

President General Pervez Musharraf decorated 57 military personnel and 36 civilians, including seven foreign nationals.

In all a total of 93 awards were conferred by the President.

The Pakistan Civil Awards were established on March 19, 1957. The announcement of civil awards is generally made on Independence Day, August 14th, and their investiture takes place on the following Pakistan Day, March 23.

The President confers civil awards on Pakistani citizens in recognition of gallantry, or distinction in academics, sports, or nursing.

The awards are conferred for gallantry - act of bravery, heroism, courage and rendering of dedicated services with selfless devotion in human rights and public service.

Those who were conferred awards include;

TAMGHA-E-JURAT (3): Major Mohammad Umar Farooq Rana (Aviation), Major Sohail Sadiq (Aviation) and Capt Nadeem Raza (Aviation).

SITARA-E-BASALAT (3): Major General Saleem Nawaz, Air Cdr Mohammad Siddique Javed (late), Brig Imtiaz Ahmed, Brig Furqanuddin, Wng Cdr Rizwanullah Khan (Shaheed), Major Malik Mumtaz Ahmed, Major Mohd Khan Shaheed, Major Irfan Aslam, Capt Mohammad Yahya Jan Shaheed, Hav Mohammad Rafique and Sepoy Zafar Mahamood Khan Shaheed.

TAMGHA-E-BASALAT (43): Brig Aziz ur Rehman, Brig Ghayyur Mehmood, Col Wahid Khan Bangish, Capt Sajid Iqbal Hussain (PN), Lt Col Malik Majid Hamid, Wng Cdr Syed Hussain Mehdi, Lt Col Mohd Ikram ul Haq, Lt Col Saifullah Khan, Lt Col Abdul Jabbar Khan Asad, Major Arsalan Shaheen, Capt Saad Khan, Lt Cdr Naveed Razak (late), Sdn Ldr Khurram Habib, Lt PN Syed Mohabat Shah, Lt PN Jawad Hussain, Flying Officer Mohd Afzal (Shaheed), Sub Lt Attikur Rehman (PN), Basharat Ali CSNA, Chief Petty Officer Meraj Ikram, Subedar Zawhar Khan Khattak (Shaheed), Subedar Ehsan Ullah, Naib Subedar Khairat Hussain, Naib Subedar Inayat Khan Aurakzai, Hav. Mohd. Asif, Mohd Zufiqar Ali AA4 (Shaheed), Petty Officer Siraj Khan, Reham Badshah LPM, Tauseef Iqbal LWVAM (Shaheed), Naik Hassan Ali Turi (Shaheed), Lance Naik Mohd. Islam, Akmal Masseh SW1 (late), Tariq Mehmood CDT1, Mohd. Ramzan Marine One, Sepoy Nasir Khan (Shaheed), Sepoy Shamsuddin, Sepoy Jehangir Khan, Naeem Ahmed Jan WIT2 (Shaheed), Mohd Imran MEM2 (Shaheed), Mohd Tariq Jaed MEM2 (Shaheed), Habibullah Anjum MEM2 (Shaheed), Syed Asad Abbas Zaidi CT2 (Shaheed), Senior Tech Shabbir Ahmed (Shaheed), Sepoy Mujeeb ur Rehman (Shaheed).

NISHAN-I-IMTIAZ (1): Late Agha Shahi - Public Service (Posthumous).

HILAL-I-PAKISTAN (4): (Service to Pakistan) Ryan C. Crocker Ambassador of USA to Pakistan, Hasan Kemal Gur Ambassador of Turkey to Pakistan, Ali Saeed Awadh Asseri Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, and Gustavo Ricardo Machin Gomez Ambassador of Cuba to Pakistan.

HILAL-I-IMTIAZ (3): Karim Ahmed Science (Digital Systems) Chairman KRL, Shoaib Sultan Khan (Public Service), and Shams ul Mulk (Public Service).

HILAL-I-QUAID-I-AZAM (3): Ms. Margherita Boniver Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy (Public Service/Human Rights), Rear Admiral Michael A. LeFever Commander Expeditionary Strike Group-I (Services to Pakistan), and Dr. John W. Wall Country Director World Bank (Services to Pakistan).

SITARA-I-SHUJA’AT (5): Late Iftikhar Ahmed - Gallantry - (Posthumous), Late Salman Ayaz Khan - Gallantry - (Posthumous) Brig. Pervez Sultan Khan - Gallantry, Col.Anwar-ul-Haq - Gallantry, Col. Hamid Ullah Saleem - Gallantry.

SITARA-I-IMTIAZ (2): Dr. Muzaffar Lateef Gill - Medicine, Late Bob Woolmer Coach Pakistan Cricket team.

PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR PRIDE OF PERFORMANCE (1): Fakhir Mehmood - Art (Singing).

SITARA-I-QUAID-I-AZAM (1): Luo Zhaohui - Services to Pakistan.

TAMGHA-I-SHUJA’AT (13): Maj. Khalid Mahmood Khan - Gallantry, Havaldar Zahid Kamal Khan - Gallantry, Sepoy Kaman Khan - Gallantry, Late Jaffar Hussain - Gallantry (Posthumous), Late Dilbar Ali - Gallantry (Posthumous), Late Adil Muhammad - Gallantry (Posthumous), Late Khushal Khan - Gallantry (Posthumous), Sepoy Muzaffar Shah - Gallantry, Late Gul Nawab Shah - Gallantry (Posthumous), Late Mian Muhammad Amin - Gallantry (Posthumous), Late Muhammad Aqeel - Gallantry (Posthumous), Late Sher Ahmed - Gallantry (Posthumous), Late Zubair Ahmed - Gallantry (Posthumous).

TAMGHA-I-IMTIAZ: (3) Muhammad Saleh Zaafir - Literature (Journalism), Mazhar Nisar - Public Service (Broadcasting), Qari Najam Mustafa - Public Service (Qirat).

In Academics these are awarded for research, achievement or performance in Medicine, Science, Engineering, Technology, Philosophy, History, Literature or the Arts, and invention of national importance.

President’s Awards for Pride of Performance are conferred for outstanding achievements in the fields of Art, Literature, Science,Sports and Nursing.

Pakistani citizens are eligible for awards in the Order of Shuja’at, Imtiaz and President’s Awards for Pride of Performance while foreign nationals can be given civil awards in any Order for eminence and outstanding services to Pakistan in a significant field of activity●