ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has honored Cuba’s late former President Fidel Castro with the country’s highest civilian award the Nishan-e-Pakistan Order of Pakistan.
A special ceremony was held in Cuba’s capital of Havana, on April 27, and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Cuba Kamran Shafi also attended the event.
The Nishan-e-Pakistan is the country’s highest civil award given for the highest degree of service to Pakistan.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra Diaz received the award from Shafi.
“On behalf of t/ people and government of Cuba with the enduring memory and example of the Commander in Chief, I proudly receive Nishan-e-Pakistan Order which marks a milestone in t/history of relations between #Cuba and #Pakistan,” Diaz said in tweet.
In March this year in an official statement, the Pakistani government announced that President Mamnoon Hussain would confer civil awards to 141 Pakistanis as well as foreign nationals on Pakistan National Day on March 23.
According to the statement, Nishan-e-Pakistan was awarded to former Cuban President Fidel Castro “for rendering unwavering services to Pakistan.”
Pakistan and Cuba formally established diplomatic relations in 1955, and the year 2005 marks the watershed between the two countries ties: after a devastating earthquake in October 2005 Cuba was among the countries that came forward to help the Pakistan nation.
Cuba sent hundreds of doctors and medical staff with emergency health kits to the worst-hit areas and provided critical health facilities.
