The Government of Pakistan has conferred the highest literary Award "Hilal-i-Imtiaz" on the Chairman, Pakistan Academy of Letters, Fakhar Zaman on his splendid contribution for literature. The Awards were given by the President of Pakistan on 23rd March, 2009, the Republic Day of Pakistan, in a special function held in the Presidency, Islamabad.
Fakhar Zaman has published more than thirty-five (35) books in Urdu, Punjabi and English. Five of his Punjabi Novel and poetry books were banned in 1978 by the Military Government of General Zia-ul-Haq. The books were forcibly lifted from the BookShops and burnt. The ban was lifted after eighteen years in 1996 by the Lahore High Court. It was a solitary example in the history of literature that five books of an author were banned in one goes and ban lifted after legal battle over eighteen years.
Fakhar Zamans writings contribute Postgraduate curriculum in six Universities of India and several Ph.D, M.Phil theses have been written on his Novel and Poetry. The University of Delhi has prescribed a compulsory for the M.A. Punjabi degree on his writings. He is also the Architect of the first-ever "Culture Policy of Pakistan" which was promulgated by the government of Benazir in 1995 and is still intact.
He was awarded the "Millennium Award" for being the best Punjabi Novelist of the 20th century in Delhi in 2000. He has received many international Awards on his writings, the latest being the "Shiromani Sahitik Award" by the Punjab Government of India for his contribution to Punjabi literature and culture. He is the first Pakistani to get Indian Award. Fakhar Zaman is also the Chairman of the World Punjabi Congress (WPC) and Chairman of the International Congress of Writers, Artists and Intellectuals (ICWAI).-PR