I HAVE served in a government department that used to forward recommendations to the federal government regarding awards that are announced and distributed. I have witnessed how undeserving people hanker after the award by using political and professional influences.

I recently learnt that the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had also been nominated for the award. This I find appalling because the FBR chief is the person who has bagged Rs1.5 trillion at the cost of helpless consumers as petroleum levy. Clearly, he is being rewarded for just that.

We also hear that the system has failed, and, yet, we see people within the system getting rewarded for their ‘performance’. These are comical contradictions that can be found rarely in other countries.

I believe that apart from the soldiers who have given their lives for the country, there are hardly a dozen Pakistanis who truly deserve the honour. The government should really avoid demeaning the awards.

Nasser Yousaf
Abbottabad

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2026