Nishan-e-Imtiaz
Nishan-e-Imtiaz | |
---|---|
Awarded by The President of Pakistan | |
Type | Award |
Eligibility | Pakistani or Foreign citizen |
Awarded for | Service to the state, and for services to international diplomacy. |
Status | Currently constituted |
Sovereign | President of Pakistan |
Sovereign | Prime minister of Pakistan |
Grades | 5 grade: Star (1st Class) Badge (Second Class) Ribbon (military only) Collar Chain (4th class) Medal (5th Class)[note 1] |
Statistics | |
First induction | 19 March 1957 |
Total inductees | 34 |
Precedence | |
Next (higher) | None |
Next (lower) | Hilal-i-Imtiaz |
Ribbons: military (only) |
The Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Urdu: نشان امتیاز; transl. Order of Excellence) is one of the state organized civil decorations of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.[1] It is awarded for achievements towards world recognition for Pakistan or an outstanding service for the country. However, the award is not limited to citizens of Pakistan and, while it is a civilian award, it can also be awarded to military personnel and worn on the uniform. Nishan, translates as Decoration/Order, is a highly restricted and prestigious award roughly equivalent to Presidential Medal of Freedom (United States) and Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom), and is the first category award of Order of Imtiaz.[1] The other three descending categories are Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz. Usually, it is regarded as the highest award one can achieve in Pakistan since the higher award Nishan-e-Pakistan is awarded only to foreign Heads of States.
The Award was established on 19 March 1957, following the proclamation of State of Pakistan as a Parliamentary republic, by the 1956 Constitution. The award is the top decoration in the country, given to a person who has accomplished duty beyond what is assigned to him/her. The person has to show eminence and be outstanding in providing excellent service in a significant field of activity. It means that he/she has to prove that he/she has achieved distinction.
The award may be awarded posthumously and may also be awarded to an individual more than once, though it has not been awarded twice since 1999. Nishan-i-Imtiaz, is an honour given by the Government of Pakistan to both the military officers of the Pakistan Armed Forces and civilians who have outstanding contributions that prompted world recognition of Pakistan. For civilians, it is awarded for distinguished merit, honouring their excellence in their respected fields of literature, arts, sports, medicine, or science. The award is usually given to individuals not groups because the whole purpose of the award is to recognise individual excellence.
For those in the military it is given after distinguished service and is also the highest award that can be awarded to those at the rank of Generals (Army), Air Chief Marshals (Air Force), and Admirals of the Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines.
Parliament's committee for the Award and Recognition of Services for the State of Pakistan, select individuals and send a final report to the Prime minister of Pakistan. On advice of the Prime Minister, the President organizes a colourful ceremony that is telecast and broadcast nationally.
This award ceremony is held once in a year, nominees are announced on Independence Day and the ceremony takes place on Pakistan Day in a Presidential Palace. Nishan-i-Imtiaz is awarded to the nominees by the President of Pakistan in a colourful public ceremony.
The badge of the Nishan-e-Imtiaz is in the form of pure golden star with light-white enamel, with well polished green emerald circumference to the inside the golden star. Written in gold words around the green emerald, it reads as نشان امتیاز. A golden Jasminum stands between the point of the star. It is worn around the neck with a yellow, bright yellow and white ribbon (for civilians) or bright green and white ribbon (for military officers) with white edge stripes.
A special grade of the award has a larger execution of the same medal design worn as a star on the left chest. In addition, it is worn as a sash on the right shoulder, with its rosette (yellow with white (for civilians) or/ green (Military officers only) with white and yellow edge, bearing the disc of the medal at its center, resting on the left hip. At the ceremony, both medals can be worn at the same time.
For military officers, the medal is accompanied by a ribbon bar for wearing on military uniform, a miniature medal pendant for wearing on mess uniform, and a lapel badge for wearing on civilian clothes.
Recipients
Name of the recipient | Field | Year | Country[note 2] |
---|---|---|---|
Mohamed Hussein Tantawi | Egyptian field marshal | Egypt | |
Majid Nizami | Journalist[2] | ||
Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi | Religio-political reformer | 1958 | Pakistan |
Aga Khan IV | Religious leader | 1970 | |
Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Devi | Queen | 1970 | Nepal |
Abdus Salam | Scientist, nuclear physicist | 1979 | Pakistan |
Abdul Sattar Edhi | Social activist | 1989 | Pakistan |
Faiz Ahmed Faiz | Poet and scholar[3] | 1990 | Pakistan |
Abdul Qadeer Khan | Nuclear scientist | 1996 | Pakistan |
Ishfaq Ahmad | Nuclear scientist | 1998 | Pakistan |
Dilip Kumar | Indian film actor[4][5][6][7] | 1998 | India |
Riazuddin | Physicist | 1998 | |
Sharifuddin Pirzada | Attorney-general of Pakistan | 1998 | |
Muhammad Raziuddin Siddiqui | Educationist | 1998 | Pakistan |
Abdul Qadeer Khan | Nuclear scientist | 1999 | Pakistan |
Akhtar Hameed Khan | 2001 | ||
Shahid Karimullah | 2002 | ||
Atta ur Rahman | Scientist, educationist | 2002 | |
Hakim Said | (Hakeem Mohammad Saeed) Social activist, philanthropist[8] | 2002 | |
Yaşar Büyükanıt | 2007 | Turkey | |
Habib Jalib | Poet and scholar | 2009 | |
Khurshid Ahmad | Professor[9] | 2011 | |
Mehdi Hassan | Film playback singer | 2012 | |
Saadat Hassan Manto | Short story writer | 2012 | Pakistan |
Abdul Sattar Edhi | Social activist, founder of Edhi Foundation | 2012 | |
Munir Ahmad Khan | Nuclear scientist | 2012 | |
Rahimuddin Khan | |||
Rashad Mahmood | General in the Pakistan Armed Forces[10] | 2013 | Pakistan |
Pervez Musharraf | Former President of Pakistan | Pakistan | |
Tariq Majid | |||
Hilmi Özkök | Turkey | ||
Shafi ur Rahman | Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Human Rights | 2000 | Pakistan |
Sherry Rehman | Politician, journalist and ambassador[11] | 2013 | |
Anwar Shamim | Air-Marshal, Pakistan Air Force | ||
Raheel Sharif | Pakistan Army Chief[10] | 2013 | Pakistan |
Asma Jahangir[12] | Human Rights activist, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan | 2018 | |
Admiral Ravindra C. Wijegunaratne | Chief of Defence Staff, Sri Lanka | 2019 | Sri Lanka |
Sadruddin Hashwani | Businessman | 2019 | Pakistan |
Mujahid Anwar Khan | Chief of Air Staff (Pakistan) | 2018 | Pakistan |
Nadeem Raza | Chairman Joint Chiefs Of Staff Committee | Pakistan |
See also
- Nishan-e-Haider
- Nishan-e-Pakistan
- Civil decorations of Pakistan
- Awards and decorations of the Pakistan Armed Forces
- Government of Pakistan
- Pakistan Armed Forces
Notes
References
- ^ a b Honour and Awards Policy, Government of Pakistan, archived from the original on 2 March 2007
- ^ Majid Nizami, recipient of Nishan-i-Imtiaz Award, Published 27 July 2014, Retrieved 28 May 2016
- ^ Nishan-e-Imtiaz for Faiz Ahmad Faiz on aaj.tv website, Retrieved 3 June 2016
- ^ Desai, Meghnad (2014). "Dilip Kumar's autobiography reveals his journey from Peshawar to Bombay". p. 1. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ BBC News (2014). "Indian media: Dilip Kumar's Pakistan home a heritage site". p. 1. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ The Hindu, National (2016). "Dilip Kumar's home in Pak. on verge of collapse". p. 1. Archived from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- ^ India Today, PTI (2015). "Dilip Kumar's ancestral home in Pakistan to be turned into a museum". p. 1. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ Nishan-e-Imtiaz Award for Hakim Said on The Nation newspaper, Published 17 October 2015, Retrieved 10 January 2017
- ^ Nishan-e-Imtiaz Award for Khurshid Ahmad (scholar) in 2011 on The Nation newspaper, Published 24 March 2011, Retrieved 24 January 2017
- ^ a b Nishan-e-Imtiaz Awards for both General Raheel Sharif and General Rashad Mahmood given by the President of Pakistan on The Express Tribune newspaper, Published 20 December 2013, Retrieved 10 January 2017
- ^ "Senate of Pakistan". www.senate.gov.pk. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
- ^ "Asma Jahangir, Junaid Jamshed, Afridi, Misbah among 141 nominated for Civil Awards". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 31 December 2020.