One that the government has missed out is Veena Malik for Nishan-e-Imtiaz on 23 March. She single-handedly harmonised relations with arch-rival India with her extraordinary performances on Indian screen and off the screen. Could anyone have done it? She has beaten all in a billion dollar Bollywood industry. She has proved to those imported females of India that Pakistani females can do what their girls are reluctant to do. She should have been rewarded. The person who selects the names of such people is surely biased or he has no aesthetic sense. He should have consulted the higher-ups.
If Meera is given Pride of Performance for her scandals one after the other and those too of such serious nature, Veena should have been recognised with Nishan-e-Imtiaz if not Nishan-e-Pakistan. Rehman Malik is missed out; who single-handedly controlled Karachi, Dr Mirza for his superb acting on TV screen Yousaf Raza Gilani for his daring visits to SC. Haqqani for his verbal defence of Mansoor’s lies, Waheeda Shah for her extraordinary courage. Mansoor Wassan for his skills in containing Karachi. Altaf Bhai for his melodious speeches and acting.
I strongly urge the government to rectify these omissions and give them all belated awards. By the way, Nishan-e-Imtiaz suddenly seems a small award. Even grad-22 Nargis Sethi gets it. All of the above should be granted Nishan-e-Pakistan. Nishan-e-Haider, I know, has its limitations.
