President Dr Arif Alvi conferred upon civil awards on different personalities for their contributions in different fields at an investiture ceremony in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The President decorated awards in nine categories to 45 recipients. These included; Nishan-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Pakistan, Sitara-i-Shuja’at, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, President’s award for Pride of Performance, Sitara-i-Quaid-e-Azam, Tamgha-i-Shuja’at, and Tamgha-i-Imtiaz.

The ceremony was held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday. The president conferred Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Muhammad Naeem for his achievements in field of science (chemistry) and on Nazar Muhammad Rashid alias NM Rashid and Majeed Amjad alias Abdul Majeed for their achievements in literature.

Dr Inamur Rehman (science nuclear physics), Dr Qamar Mehboob (engineering nuclear), Tahir Ikram (engineering mechanical), Rohail Hayat (art, music, composing), and Kishwar Naheed (literature) were given Hilal-e-Imtiaz.

Mohamad Azmi Abdul Hamid and religious scholar Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalili (Oman) were given Sitara-e-Pakistan for their services to Pakistan.

Muhammad Bux Buriro, Reshma and Col Shafi Ullah Khan received Sitara-i-Shujaat for their gallantry, while Muhammad Akbar Khan, Iqbal Masih, Abdul Ghaffar Shaikh, Zia Hussain, Tabasum Shabbir Awan, Irfan Ahmed Durrani, Asadullah Qureshi, Muhammad Ali, Ahmed Ali, Sadiq Hussain, Nuruddin, Malik Dara Khan, Muhammad Raheem Shah, Muhammad Saeed Khan, Muhammad Waleed Sabir Khan, Waqar Ahmed, Abdul Qahhar Khan, Jamil Ahmed Kalhoro and Adnan Malik were given Tamgha-e-Shujaat.

The president awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz to Dr Syed Hussain Abidi (science), Rashid Rana (arts), Syed Aqeel Bilgrami (architecture), Mehmoodul Haq Alvi (services to humanity) and to Salman Iqbal for promotion of sports, particularly cricket.

The President’s Pride of Performance awards were given to Syed Tajamul Hussain (science), Prof Dr Yasir Ayaz (engineering), Shakeela Naz (artist), and Irfanullah Jan (services to humanity).

The president awarded Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam to Chaudhry Khalid Mehmood for his philanthropy.

Dr Muhammad Abid, Momina Duraid Qureshi, and Asad Mehmood received Tamgha-i-Imtiaz for their services in the fields of engineering, drama, and environment, respectively.

This story was first published in Business Recorder on March 24, 2022.