KARACHI, March 29: The chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Mohammad Afzal Tahir, on Thursday conferred military awards on Pakistan Navy officers and men at ceremony held here at the Bahria Auditorium.

An ISPR (Navy) press release said that these awards were announced by the Government of Pakistan on Pakistan Day in recognition of the services of the recipients in their respective fields.

The recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military) are: Commodore Shafqat Jawed, Cdr M. Iqbal Bajwa, Cdr Azhar Hayat, Cdr Mohammad Asif, Cdr Syed Sarfaraz Ali, Cdr Iftikhar Ahmed, Cdr Sajid Ali Hashmi, Cdr Dr Sarfaraz Hussain, Cdr Sayyid Khawar Ali, Cdr Khalid Owais, Cdr Shahid Saeed, Cdr Tahseenullah Khan, Cdr Khawaja Ghazanfar Hussain and Cdr Mumtaz Raza.

Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Military) was awarded to Cdr Ishrat Mahmood Shakir, Cdr Imran Nasir, Cdr Tanvir Ahmad, Cdr Mohammad Shafique, Cdr Faisal Mir, Cdr Amjad Ali Awan, Cdr Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami, Cdr Asrar Amin, Cdr Hamiduz Zafar, Cdr Adil Umar, Cdr Amir Zubair Siddiqui, Cdr Tariq Mahmood, Cdr Mohammad Amin, Lt-Cdr Syed Kahsif Raza , Lt-Cdr Tanveer Ahmed, Lt-Cdr Hasib Tahir, Lt-Cdr Mohammad Hayat Khan, Lt-Cdr Rashid Anwar, Lt-Cdr Anjum Malik and Lt-Cdr Javed Zia.In addition to these awards, 21 Tamgha-i-Khidmat (Military)-I, 37 Tamgha-i-Khidmat (Military)-II and 31 Tamgha-i-Khidmat (Military)-III were also awarded.

The Chief of the Naval Staff Letters of Commendation were presented to 59 officers and men for their excellent performance in their respective trades.

Mohammad Asim CDT-I was declared the best sailor of the year 2006 whereas Assistant Gul Mohammad and HSG-II Aziz Nawaz were proclaimed the best civilian employees of the year 2006.

The ceremony was attended by a large number of senior serving and retired officers of the armed forces and families of the award winners.—APP