Tamgha-e-Imtiaz is one of the highest rewards, in particular, it is the fourth highest decoration which is given to any civilian or foreign individual keeping in mind the achievements they have made.it is a state-organized honor regarding the State of Pakistan. In spite of this being an award for civilians many military officers and foreign citizens have also been bestowed upon with it.
The multi-talented actress Mehwish Hayat was honored with an award of Tamgha-e–imtiaz on Pakistan Day by the president of Pakistan. This was indeed a great honor for the actress, as she went forward to dedicate the award to “all the other girls in Pakistan who have a dream”.
Hayat went on to narrate a story,” An eight-year-old girl went to the PTV studios holding her mother’s hand tightly. She was totally clueless about all the hustle and bustle going on around her. But she was equally fascinated by the lights, the cameras and the way in which everybody was hard at work including her mother who was an actress. Even as a child the wobbly sets amused her but she could see on the screens the magic being woven in that studio creating dreams for so many people. Yesterday that same little girl arrived at the Aiwan-e-Sadr holding tightly on to her mother’s hand equally bemused by her surroundings. That girl knows that she is blessed to be there receiving such a prestigious honour in the company of such distinguished people following in the footsteps of so many legends, so many of her own heroes. At heart she remains that simple little girl from Karachi who has been fortunate to live her dreams. Her journey from that PTV studio to the Awan-e-Sadr has been a long one and by no means the easiest. But never in her wildest dreams did she see this recognition coming at such a tender age. Nor did she see the role she would go on to play in the revival of Pakistani Cinema and her contribution being acknowledged in this way,” she added.
Mehwish went on to say that she thanked the government of Pakistan and the president for bestowing this honour upon her and “making the dream of that little girl come true”.
“Today, I share this with all the other girls in Pakistan who have a dream, to them I simply say, ‘Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams turn into reality’. Thank you also to all my family, friends and colleagues who have shared this wondrous journey and above all to all the fans who have supported me each step of the way and made me worthy of this award!” she said.
