ISLAMABAD, July 22: Renowned Urdu poet Ahmed Faraz here on Saturday announced that he had returned the civil Hilal-i-Imtiaz award coffered on him by President Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2004 for his literary services.

“My conscious will not forgive me if I remained a silent spectator of the sad happenings around us. The least I can do is to let the dictatorship know where it stands in the eyes of the concerned citizens whose fundamental rights have been usurped. I am doing this by returning the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (civil) forthwith and refusing to associate myself in any way with the regime,” stated a statement issued by the poet.

Mr Faraz has also formally informed the cabinet division secretary about his decision, he said, he had to take after listening to last Thursday’s speech of President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

He said he had helplessly watched the happenings of Balochistan and Waziristan. He said his heart bled in pain and anguish, but he also retained a secret hope that things would soon improve and would not slip into the 1971-like situation.

“I was greatly disappointed when, in his address to the nation last Thursday, Gen Musharraf vowed to tread on the same path we followed in 1971 that led to the disintegration of the country,” he added.

Mr Faraz said he saw with his mind’s eye that instead of bringing honour the award had turned into a “stigma” for him because he had accepted it from “such a regime”.