I take issue with this inability to separate logically one thing from another. Recognising this man's contribution to the nation as an atheist, is NOT the same thing as unrecognised the same done by Muslims or any other religion.
These can be mutually exclusive positions, so please tell me why so many people that have a problem with atheism in this thread and make it so?
And I'm not bashing the country, I'm saying religion is not always a metric for a judge of a man, especially this man who has no religion, yet there are many Muslims in the country, some who are as great as him, and some who gave their lives for the country. Yet others are those, Muslims too, who've only robbed the country blind, wronged their country men or contributed nothing.
Maybe you should pay attention to the point being made rather than jumping to these conclusions that you've arrived at, that I've never intended you to arrive at. Each man's contribution is his own regardless of his religion, this man's lack of religion takes nothing away from his service in my opinion.