ISLAMABAD, March 23: President Asif Ali Zardari conferred military awards on officers of the Pakistan Air Force on Saturday.

Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Arshad Quddus and AVM Sohail Aman were awarded Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military).

Air Commodore (Air Cdre) Khalid Mahmood, Air Cdre Shahjahan Sattar Khan, Air Cdre Khawar Hussain, Air Cdre Aasim Zaheer, Air Cdre Humayun Viqar Zephyr, Air Cdre Noor Abbas, Group Captain (Gp Capt) Mohammad Safdar, Gp Capt Mohammad Afzal, Gp Capt Shahzad Zafar Dogar, Gp Capt Omer Sharif, Gp Capt M. Arif Burq, Gp Capt Salman Mahboob, Gp Capt Gohar Majeed Khan, Gp Capt Mohammad Waseem, Gp Capt Shahid Nadeem and Gp Capt Tahir Mukhtar were awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military).

In recognition of his efforts and support for the JF-17 Thunder programme, Wang Guangya, chairman of the board, Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group Co. Ltd, Peoples Republic of China, was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz.

Tamgha-i-Imtiaz was conferred on Gp Capt Syed Ali Zaidi, Gp Capt Mohammad Shafique Siddique, Wing Commander (Wg Cdr) Mohammad Ehsan-ul-Haq, Wg Cdr Gohar-Ul-Hassan Syed, Wg Cdr Aurangzeb Ahmed, Wg Cdr Salman Masood, Wg Cdr Mohammad Asif Aslam, Wg Cdr Arif Mahmood, Wg Cdr Imran Siddiqui, Wg Cdr Adnan Qadeer, Wg Cdr Tariq Iqbal, Wg Cdr Mohammad Usman Malik, Wg Cdr Mohammad Ikram-Ul-Haq Noor and Wg Cdr Mohammad Nasir Javed.

Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) Bilal Hassan Babri (Shaheed) was awarded Sitara-i-Basalat.

Wg Cdr Jehan-Zeb Tahir and Sqn Ldr Syed Asif Hussain received Imtiazi Sanad.—APP