President Dr Arif Alvi has conferred Pakistan’s highest civil award – ‘Nishan-e-Pakistan’ – on spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin.

The special investiture ceremony took place at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad on Tuesday. Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla, and Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori were present at the event.

Last month, the president approved the conferment of the civil award under Article 259 (2) of the Constitution, which pertains to awarding civil awards, and the Decorations Act 1975.

Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin is the 53rd al-Dai al-Mutlaq and head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, according to the citation that was read in the President’s House. His followers are spread across all continents. A large number of his followers are Pakistani citizens.

It mentioned the Bohra community leader’s contribution to establishing the building of School of Law at the University of Karachi. He has also launched a project to establish a state-of-the-art university in Pakistan.

Dr Saifuddin, along with his family members, arrived in Karachi on November 20.

On November 27, Dr Saifuddin and caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar inaugurated the new building of School of Law in the University of Karachi which has been named after the spiritual leader of the community.