Nishan-e-Haider
The Nishan-E-Haider, (Sight of The Lion), is the highest award given by Pakistan's military. It is the top most award given by the Military. It is awarded to those select soldiers who show an incredible amount of valor and courage on the battle field in the face of staunch adversity.
The name of the award is in memory of a famous military hero, Ali Haider (1722-1782 CE) [1]. However, it is not uncomon to see Muslims state that the medal is named after another Ali, the heroic Muslim Caliph [2]
The Award
- Category: Operational (Awarded to members of the Armed Forces during times of conflict.)
- Definition: It is the highest gallantry award and is the senior most among civil and military awards. It is admissible to all ranks for acts of heroism/conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger or devotion to the country in the presence of the enemy on land, at sea or in the air.
Officially the Nishan-e-Haider is not conditional to the sex (male or female) and neither to the person nominated for the medal being alive (Ghazi) or deceased (Shaheed). The prestige of this award is apparent from the fact that since independence it has been awarded to only ten men-at-arms even though Pakistan has engaged in three wars (1948, 1965, 1971) and a major conflict in Kargil during the summer of 1999.
Recipients
Since 1947 ten men have received this award. Note: shaheed means martyr and is added to each recipient’s name as a sign of respect.
- Captain Muhammad Sarwar Shaheed (1910–July 27, 1948)
- Major Tufail Muhammad Shaheed (1914–August 7, 1958)
- Major Raja Aziz Bhatti Shaheed (1928–September 10, 1965)
- Major Muhammad Akram Shaheed (1938–1971)
- Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed (1951–August 20, 1971)
- Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed (1943–December 6, 1971)
- Jawan Sowar Muhammad Hussain Shaheed (1949–December 10, 1971)
- Lance Naik Muhammad Mahfuz Shaheed (1944–December 17, 1971)
- Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed (1970–July 5, 1999)
- Lalak Jan Shaheed (1967–July 7, 1999)
References
^ Examples of stating it is named after the Caliph: [4], [5]