ISLAMABAD: Renowned classical and Sufi singer, composer and musician Abida Parveen has received the Nishan-e-Imtiaz on the occasion of Pakistan Day.
Abida Parveen been dubbed as the ‘Queen of Sufi music’ and has won man accolades for her singing and music. Parveen came into global prominence in the 1990s. She is referred as one of the world’s greatest mystic singers. She sings mainly ghazals, Thumri, Khyal, Qawwali, raag, Sufi rock, classical and semi-classical music.
Parveen sings in Urdu, Sindhi, Saraiki, Punjabi, Arabic and Persian. In 2017, she was designated a ‘Peace Ambassador’ by SAARC. She is among The 500 Most Influential Muslims of the world and is a “Global Mystic Sufi Ambassador”.
Parveen is best known for singing in an impassioned, loud voice and rendition of poetry. She received Pakistan’s second highest civilian awards Hilal-e-Imtiaz in 2012.
Nishan-e-Imtiaz is one of the state organized civil decorations awarded for achievements towards world recognition for Pakistan or an outstanding service for the country. It is regarded as the highest award one can achieve in Pakistan.
President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday conferred civil awards on 88 Pakistani and foreign nationals in recognition of their services in different fields during a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr.
The personalities who received the Nishan-i-Imtiaz apart from Abida Parveen were Sadeqain Naqvi (Art), Ahmad Faraz (Literature), Prof Shakir Ali (Art), Zahoorul Haq (Art), and Dr Jameel Jalibi (Literature).
The awards included six Nishan-i-Imtiaz, three Hilal-i-Imtiaz, 24 Sitara-i-Shuja’at, eight Sitara-i-Imtiaz, 14 President’s Award for Pride of Performance, one Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam, one Sitara-i-Khidmat, one Tamgha-i-Pakistan, 22 Tamgha-i-Shujaat and eight Tamgha-i-Imtiaz.
At the investiture ceremony held in connection with Pakistan Day, the recipients were honoured for showing excellence in fields such as medicine, education, social services, fine arts, and for showing gallantry in the war against terrorism and during the coronavirus pandemic.
