The shield on the State Arms of Bahawalpur contains four quarters:
The first quarter has four stars for the four companions of the Prophet
Muhammad with three ears of wheat underneath for the local flora &
agriculture, the mainstay.
The second quarter has a crescent & star, the Islamic symbols.
The third quarter has five wavy lines symbolizing the five rivers of
Punjab.
The fourth quarter has a camel, the local fauna (animal) denoting the desert
terrain.
The supporters are pelicans standing for the self sacrifice. It denotes
the relationship between the ruler & the ruled. The pelican was recognized as the state bird of Bahawalpur.
The scroll has the motto “SADIQ DOST’ inscribed in Arabic script, meaning the
“True Friend”
Dr. Tariq Saleem Marwat, 20 December 2004
The flags of both Bahawalpur and Pakistan appear on a stamp commemorating the
First Anniversary of 1948. On the stamp, the flag differs from the version
above, in that the crescents (of both the state and national flags) seem to be
much thicker. This could well be due to the fact that the stamps were poorly
drawn/printed. Ron Lahav, 21 April 2005