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Pakistan climbing season reaches new heights

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  • Pakistan enjoys bumper climbing season with around 1,400 foreign mountaineers bidding to scale its lofty peaks.
  • There were 57 expeditions planned for 23 Pakistan peaks this season.
  • Secretary of Alpine Club of Pakistan Karrar Haidri says climbers this year include 90 women.

SKARDU: Pakistan is enjoying a bumper climbing season with around 1,400 foreign mountaineers bidding to scale its lofty peaks — including hundreds on the 8,611-metre (28,251-feet) K2, the world’s second-highest.

“It is a record number,” Raja Nasir Ali Khan, tourism minister of the Gilgit-Baltistan region, told AFP.

The country is home to five of the world’s 14 mountains higher than 8,000 metres, and climbing them all is considered the ultimate achievement of any mountaineer.

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told AFP there were 57 expeditions planned for 23 Pakistan peaks this season — with 370 climbers having a crack at K2, known as “the savage mountain”.

Besides being far more technically difficult to climb than Everest, weather conditions are notoriously fickle on K2, which has only been scaled by 425 people since 1954.

More than 6,000 people have climbed Everest since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the top in 1953 — some of them multiple times.

Haidri said climbers this year include 90 women — including at least two Pakistanis aiming to become the country’s first to scale K2.

Russian Oxana Morneva is leading a team on the mountain, having failed in her own attempt in 2012 when she was forced back after injuring her knee.

“My rope was broken by falling rocks,” she told AFP.

She said she had no apprehension about returning.

“When we go to the mountain we have to be peaceful inside, and we have to know what we are doing,” she added.

Around 200 climbers will attempt to scale the 8,051-metre Broad Peak, while similar numbers will try Gasherbrum-I (8,080 metres) and Gasherbrum-II (8,035 metres).

A 36-year-old Norwegian climber, Kristin Harila, is also aiming to reach the world’s 14 highest mountain summits in record time.

Having already climbed seven peaks of over 8,000 metres, Harila hopes to match, if not beat, Nepali adventurer Nirmal Purja’s ambitious six months and six days record.

The summer climbing season that started in early June lasts until late August.

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Five IPP contracts are being terminated, according to PM Shehbaz.

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He stated that this was carried out with the owners of the IPPs’ mutual approval while presiding over today’s federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad.

The Prime Minister notified the Cabinet that no interest will be paid; only the remaining sums owed to these IPPs will be settled.

He emphasized that breaking these contracts will benefit the national exchequer by around 411 billion rupees and save power users roughly sixty billion rupees.

Shehbaz Sharif claimed that it was the result of the government team’s tireless efforts working together. In this regard, he acknowledged the associated parties’ contributions and support as well. In particular, he brought up General Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff, who showed a personal interest in the entire situation.

The Prime Minister explained that the breakthrough marked the start of a path that will ultimately lead to the wealth and advancement of the populace.

Shehbaz Sharif also brought up the assistance given to power users in the summer by the Punjabi and Federal governments.

The prime minister expressed happiness that the economy is steadily approaching stability. He made note of the fact that remittances for the first quarter reached a record-breaking $8.8 billion. This indicates that Pakistan’s economy is progressing, he remarked.

The administration, according to Shehbaz Sharif, also took action to lower the inflation, which is currently only one digit. He said that this was the PML-N’s election manifesto pledge being fulfilled.

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Special Jirga for Peace in KP: Consultation of Parliamentary Leaders During the Jirga

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Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi departed for Peshawar to take part in the special jirga on the political and peace conditions in the province.

He was asked to participate in the jirga, which was called by the Provincial Assembly to discuss provincial matters, by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.

Following discussions with the parliamentary leaders of all of the Provincial Assembly’s political parties, this Jirga has been called.

According to Ahmed Karim Kundi, a Pakistan People’s Party provincial assembly member, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s predicament worries all of the province’s major groups.

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The Interior Minister is scheduled to attend the Grand Jirga in Peshawar.

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To examine the political and security situation, Mohsin Naqvi, the federal minister of interior, will be present at the Grand Jirga in Peshawar.

Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Ali Amin Gandapur is hosting the Grand Jirga, which will take place at the Chief Minister House in Peshawar.

This jirga is intended to examine the province’s present political and security landscape and develop a collective action plan.

Discussing the issues that surfaced following the Pakhtun Jirga, which was organized by the outlawed Pashtoon Tahafuz Movement, is the purpose of the current Jirga.

Political party leaders, tribal elders, and members of the Provincial Assembly Khyber Pakthunkhwa will also be present at the Jirga.

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