On June 18, Dawn News’, Snaullah Khan tweeted that a senior anchor has refused the presidential award being offered by the government, stating that it goes against his professional responsibilities. He then asked his followers to guess, the name of the TV host, including Kamran Khan, Hamid Mir, Sohail Warraich, Nadeem Malik, Shahzeb Khanzada, Saleem Safi, Chauhdary Ghulam Hussain in his list of probables.
On August 13, Sanaullah mentioned while quoting his previous tweet that he has been following the process of awarding of civil honours for a long time and has observed that a lot of journalists use their connections to be nominated for the award, but Geo’s Shahzeb Khanzada refused the prestigious award after it was offered to him, stating that it might impact his neutrality.
Sources told The Current that Shahzeb Khanzada was informed about his name being recommended for the civil awards back in May. He politely declined, saying he doesn’t want his impartiality to be questioned as he is a professional and would like his work to remain professional and unbiased.
Khanzada’s fellow journalists are applauding him on the decision.
Dunya’s Ajmal Jami called Khanzada’s refusal “commendable”.
Journalist Asad Ali Toor stated in a tweet that he is proud of Shahzeb Khanzada.
Editor Investigation at Hum News, Zahid Gishkori, commended Khanzada’s decision while mentioning that something similar was done by his executive former editor Zia ud Din.
Journalist and Columnist Shahnila Ammar Sikandar mentioned that journalist Talat Hussain also refused to take Pride of Performance award during Nawaz Sharif’s government.
