ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Dr. Arif Alvi will confer top civilian awards on 127 Pakistani and foreign nationals from a diverse range of field on 23 March — a day celebrated across the country to mark the anniversary of a 1940 resolution calling for a separate homeland for Muslims in India.

The government released the list of recipients on Sunday. It includes 18 foreign nationals, most of them Chinese, who will be rewarded for excellence in various fields such as science, sports, art, media, welfare, literature and education.

Some of the prominent Pakistanis chosen for the awards include former Pakistan cricket team captain Wasim Akram, former fast bowler Waqar Younis, renowned singers Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi and Sajjad Ali and journalist Arshad Sharif.

Among the Chinese nationals, the Hilal-e-Pakistan will go to Xu Shaoshi, the Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission of China and the Hilal-e-Quaid-i-Azam to Kong Xuanyou, current vice minister of foreign affairs of China, Wang Xiaotao, Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency and Hu Xiaolian, the Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China and the former director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in China.