KARACHI, May 6 Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir conferred military awards on Pakistan Navy officers and men at a ceremony held here on Wednesday.

The awards were announced by the government of Pakistan for the recipients in recognition of their meritorious service, acts of gallantry and exceptional devotion to duty in their respective fields.

The recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz (military) are Commodore Abid Ihsan, Commodore Abdul Hameed Meer, Commodore Khalid Saeed, Commodore Imtiaz Ahmad, Commodore Arifullah Hussaini, Commodore Mohammad Naeem, Commodore Adnan Nazir, Commodore Nasir Mahmood, Commodore Hasan Nasir Shah, Commodore Zafar Abbas Khan, Commodore Kaleem Shaukat, Commodore Shah Sohail Masood, Commodore Mahmood ur Rehman and Commodore Asif Saleem.

Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (military) was awarded to Captain Sajid Mahmood, Cdr Mohammad Zubair, Cdr Sherin Khan, Cdr Akmal Hameed Kayani, Cdr Fahim Mohammad Khan, Cdr Aqib Riffat Shaikh, Cdr Arshad Mahmood, Cdr Wajid Mahboob, Cdr Syed Ahmed Salman, Cdr Tariq Saeed Ahmed, Cdr Rajub Ali Jaffri, Cdr Mohammad Saleem, Cdr Asif Hussain Baig, Cdr Mohammad Khalid Rahman, Lt-Cdr Mohammad Ashraf Javed, Lt-Cdr Rizwan Ahmed, Lt-Cdr Syed Abbas Raza Zaidi, Lt-Cdr Farrukh Mushtaq, Lt-Cdr Shahid Wasif and Lt-Cdr Jawad Riaz.

Cdr Mamoon Sadiq was awarded Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (civil).

Tamgha-i-Basalat was awarded to Cdr Naveed Anwar Cheema, Cdr M. Ikram Tahir Khaili, Lieutenant Khan Gul, Amir Ali MCPO, Nadeem Akhtar LCDT, Laeeq Khan PT-I, Mohammad Saqlain MAR-I and Mohammad Younis MAR-I. This year, the government has also conferred Sitara-i-Eisar on four officers for their commendable services in the wake of an earthquake in the NWFP, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. The four officers are Captain Zain Zulifqar, Lt-Cdr Abdul Saboor Rana, Lt-Cdr Malik Nadeem Azam and Lt-Cdr (retired) Sohaib Farooq.

In addition to these awards, 13 Tamgha-i-Khidmat (military)-I, 29 Tamgha-i-Khidmat (military)-II and 11 Tamgha-i-Khidmat (military)-III were awarded.

Chief of the Naval Staff Letters of Commendation were presented to 27 officers and men for their excellent performances in their respective trades. Ghazanfar Ali was declared the best sailor of the year 2008 and Karam Nawaz and Safdar Hussain the best civilian employees of the year 2008.