ISLAMABAD, March 23: President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday conferred civil and military awards on outstanding individuals including 15 foreign nationals and 24 women at a investiture ceremony held to mark the Pakistan Day celebrations at the Aiwan-i-Sadr.

Besides others, the ceremony was attended by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro, members of the caretaker cabinet, services chiefs, ambassadors and notables.

The awards are given in recognition of the meritorious services rendered by people in their respective fields, or for exemplary acts of gallantry.

28 posthumous awards were given in various categories for “acts of bravery, heroism, courage and rendering dedicated services with selfless devotion in human rights and public service.”

Four of these awards were received by young sons of slain officers and one by a young daughter, while the rest were received by the widows of those who fell victim to terrorists. Mohammad Altamash, son of DSP Peshawar Razik Khan and Mehr Ali, daughter of DIG police Bannu Abid Ali received Sitara-i-Shujaat, while Bahzad Abdullah, son of Deputy Superintendent Pakistan Rangers Mohammad Abdullah Gondal received Tamgha-i-Shujaat for his father.

Following is the list of recipients of awards:

SITARA-I-BASALAT: Lt Gen Shujaat Zameer Dar, Maj Gen Tahir Mehmood, Maj Gen Mohammad Farooq, Maj Gen Mohammad Haroon Aslam, Brig Mohammad Mumtaz, Capt Zahid Akram, Lt Col Mohammad Siddiq, Lt Col Amir Hameed (Shaheed), Lt Col Mohammad Rizwan Lashari, Maj Naeemullah Khattak, Maj Basharat Ahmad Noor, Maj Pervaiz Siddiq (Shaheed), Maj Khalid Aziz (Shaheed), Maj Tahir Mehmood, Maj Adil Ubaid, Maj Tauqeer Anwar Khan, Capt Salman Farooq Lodhi (Shaheed), Capt Zameer Abbas (Shaheed), Naib Subedar Mohammad Ilyas (Shaheed), Naib Subedar Ghulam Rabbi (Shaheed) and Lance Naik Sikandar Hayat (Shaheed).

HILAL-I-SHUJAAT: Late Malik Mohammad Saad Khan, late Inspector Hassan Khan, Lt Col Haroon Islam (Shaheed).

HILAL-I-IMTIAZ: Prof Dr Mohammad Iqbal Chaudhary, Justice Amirul Mulk Mengal, Lt Gen Syed Shujaat Hussain, Begum Bilquis Edhi, Prof Dr Jawad Sajid Khan, Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan.

SITARA-I-SHUJAAT: Late Khan Razik Khan, Sher Akbar, District Police Officer; Late Tariq Mahmood, Late Mohammad Salim, Sharfuddin Memon, Late Abid Ali and Mohammad Umar Morio

SITARA-I-IMTIAZ: Prof Dr Mohammad Miyanoor Wala Amin, Late Dr Aftab Ahmed and Shun Imaizumi.

TAMGHA-I-SHUJAAT: Late Mohammad Jamshed Jadoon, Late Abdul Aleem, Nasreen Nasir, late Bostan Gul, Qurban Ali, late Mohammad Abdullah Gondal, late Imtiazul Haq, late Mohammad Naeem, late Ahmed Noor, late Naseer Ahmed, late Fareed Khan, late Jawaid Ahmed, late Yasir Iqbal, Mubarrak Hussain, late Nazar Mohammad, late Faizur Rehman, late Mohammad Sadiq, late Sub (retired) Saidur Rehman.

TAMGHA-I-IMTIAZ: Shirin Walji, Hafiz Tahir Khalil, Shakil Shaikh.

President’s Award for Pride of Performance is conferred for outstanding achievements in the fields of art, literature, science, sports and nursing. This year 39 individuals have been awarded the pride of performance.

The recipients include: Jamaluddin Ahmed, Dr Liaqat Ali Khan, Ghulam Mohyuddin, Sohail Ahmed, Syed Zia Hasnain Shah, Ziafat Hussain, Dr Mohammad Shahzad, S. Tauqeerul Islam, Mohammad Arshad, Dr Farhan Saif, Dr Syed Abdul Mujeeb, Prof Dr Mohammad Saeed Khokhar, Begum Anis Fatima Majid Khan, Allah Bux, Akhtar Muneer, Gopad Das, Ustad Mehr Ali Khan, Ustad Sher Ali Khan, Naheed Raza, Gulbahar Bano, Mujahid Hussain, Rashid Malik (late), Sultana Siddique, Abdul Karim Baloch, Nisar Malik, Abdul Qadir Junejo, Hanif Raza, Nasreen H. Askari, Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, Mansoor Ahmed Rahi, Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan, Noorul Huda Shah, Dr Saleem Akhtar, Dr Noor Nabi Tanveer Abbasi (late), Prof Dr Mohammad Taha Khan, Lt Cmndr Zahid Rauf, Nida Waseem, Zubair Ahmed and Shahid Rahman.

The foreign nationals given awards in recognition of their meritorious services for Pakistan include:

Hilal-i-Pakistan: Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman UAE Red Crescent Authority.

Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam: Prof Yu Xintian (President Shanghai Institute for International Studies, China), Chen Haosu (President, The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, China), Sheila Jackson Lee (Attorney and Congresswoman, USA), Karen P. Hughes (former under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, USA).

Sitara-i-Pakistan: Behroze Setna, Singapore, and Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine.

Sitara-i-Imtiaz: Khalid Almaeena (Editor-in- Chief daily Arab News, Saudi Arabia), Goolhamid Beegun (Mauritius) and Shun Imaizumi (Japan).

Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam: Dr Fang Jinying (China) and Zhu Changbing (China).

Tamgha-i-Pakistan: Chaoying Zhang (China) and Prof Leonid M. Roshal (Russia).

Tamgha-i-Khidmat: Igor Nikolaevich Morozov (Russia).

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