ISLAMABAD — Dr. Shahid Mahmud, founder of Pakistan’s first cellular network operator and current chairman of the Interactive Group of Companies, has been recommended for the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the second-highest award in Pakistan’s Order of Imtiaz. The Cabinet Division named him in the Civil Awards 2026 list released on 14 August 2026, Pakistan’s Independence Day.
The list, approved by President Asif Ali Zardari, spans 355 Pakistani and foreign nationals recognised for work in science, medicine, the arts, public service and diplomacy. Dr. Mahmud’s citation covers telecommunications, information technology and youth science education — fields he has worked in since founding Paktel, Pakistan’s first mobile phone company, in 1988. As with every name on this year’s list, formal investiture takes place at a ceremony on Pakistan Day, 23 March 2027.
What Happened
Civil Awards in Pakistan are announced in two stages: nominees are named on Independence Day, and medals are physically conferred at an investiture ceremony the following Pakistan Day. That gap means Dr. Mahmud is, for now, “recommended” rather than a confirmed recipient — the same language state media used for every name on this year’s list.
The Hilal-i-Imtiaz is one entry in a much larger list. President Zardari’s approvals also include Nishan-i-Imtiaz, the top award in the same order, for Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and two other federal office-holders. The UAE’s Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak was recommended for Nishan-i-Pakistan, the country’s highest honour for foreign dignitaries. Dr. Mahmud’s citation places him in the science-and-technology track of the Imtiaz order, alongside recipients recognised this year for medicine, literature and sport.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Recipient | Dr. Shahid Mahmud, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Interactive Group of Companies |
| Award | Hilal-i-Imtiaz — second-highest award in the Order of Imtiaz |
| List | Pakistan Civil Awards 2026 |
| Announced | 14 August 2026, by the Cabinet Division |
| Approved by | President Asif Ali Zardari |
| Total recipients this year | 355 Pakistani and foreign nationals |
| Investiture | 23 March 2027, Pakistan Day |
| Cited field | Science and technology — telecommunications, IT, youth education |
Who Is Dr. Shahid Mahmud
Dr. Mahmud founded Paktel in 1988 and served as a director of the company until 1998, a decade in which Pakistan’s mobile industry moved from a standing start to a commercial network. He went on to found the Interactive Group of Companies, an Islamabad-based systems-integration and ICT infrastructure business spanning telecommunications, satellite connectivity and wireless media, where he remains chairman and chief executive.
His academic record includes a PhD in Computer Sciences from Coventry University in the United Kingdom, a master’s degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from Pakistan’s National Defence University, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from NED University. He is a 2016 Distinguished Eisenhower Fellow, a Senior Fellow of the Global Think Tank Network, and an alumnus of Cadet College Petaro.
Outside the company, Dr. Mahmud founded the Buraq Planetary Society in 1993, a youth space-science programme that ran its first Pakistani camp in Murree the following year and has continued for more than three decades. He also co-chairs the ICT track of the National University of Sciences and Technology’s Corporate Advisory Council and holds visiting-faculty positions at the National Defence University and the National School of Public Policy.
| Role | Organisation |
|---|---|
| Founder, Chairman & CEO | Interactive Group of Companies |
| Founder; director until 1998 | Paktel |
| Founder (1993) | Buraq Planetary Society |
| Senior (Honorary) Advisor | OIC-COMSTECH |
| Co-Chair, ICT | NUST Corporate Advisory Council |
| Distinguished Fellow, 2016 cohort | Eisenhower Fellowships |
| Visiting faculty | National Defence University; National School of Public Policy |
The AI Policy Role
Since early 2026, Dr. Mahmud has been publicly active in artificial intelligence policy work through OIC-COMSTECH, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Islamabad-based standing committee on scientific and technological cooperation. State news agency APP identified him as OIC-COMSTECH’s Senior (Honorary) Advisor when he spoke at a January 2026 conference on AI and the future of work, and again at an August 2026 innovation summit held with a visiting Chinese business delegation.
The nomination material behind this week’s recommendation goes further, describing him as chairman of the committee’s AI Committee and crediting his PhD research — on artificial intelligence, big-data analytics and predictive modelling — with publication in the Elsevier journal Future Generation Computer Systems and more than 329 citations. Those specific figures, and the AI Committee chairmanship, do not appear in the independent APP event coverage reviewed for this article, which consistently uses the advisor title rather than a committee chairmanship. COMSTECH’s own published profile of Dr. Mahmud does corroborate that his doctoral work focused on computer science and artificial intelligence.
Where Hilal-i-Imtiaz Ranks
The Order of Imtiaz is one of four honour categories in Pakistan’s civil awards system, alongside the Pakistan, Shujaat and Quaid-i-Azam orders. Within it, Hilal-i-Imtiaz ranks second to Nishan-i-Imtiaz and above Sitara-i-Imtiaz and Tamgha-i-Imtiaz. All four have existed since 19 March 1957 and are open to both Pakistani citizens and foreign nationals; recipients are typically drawn from literature, the arts, sport, medicine and science.
| Rank | Award | Established |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (highest) | Nishan-i-Imtiaz | 1957 |
| 2 | Hilal-i-Imtiaz | 1957 |
| 3 | Sitara-i-Imtiaz | 1957 |
| 4 | Tamgha-i-Imtiaz | 1957 |
Pakistan’s Digital-Policy Backdrop
The recommendation lands against a specific policy backdrop. Pakistan’s National Assembly passed the Digital Nation Pakistan Act in January 2025, creating the Pakistan Digital Authority and a National Digital Commission chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to oversee a National Digital Masterplan. Government economic data released in June 2026 put 66.03 percent of Pakistan’s roughly 252 million people under the age of 30, a demographic the Act’s backers have cited when pushing digital-skills and digital-identity programmes.
The sector Dr. Mahmud has spent four decades building is also having a strong run commercially: State Bank of Pakistan data shows the country’s telecommunications, computer and information-services exports reached a record $4.6 billion in the fiscal year ending June 2026, up 21 percent on the year before and now the largest single category of Pakistan’s services exports. Dr. Mahmud’s citation ties his recognition to youth development specifically, alongside his telecommunications and AI-policy record.
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