Presidency announces 355 civil awards on Independence Day

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-Pa