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  • ‘Oh, to be like Sadpara’: Tributes pour in as Pakistan declares missing K2 climbers dead


‘Oh, to be like Sadpara’: Tributes pour in as Pakistan declares missing K2 climbers dead

An undated file photo of Ali Sadpara shared on his social media. (Photo courtesy: Ali Sadpara/Twitter)
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Updated 19 February 2021
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‘Oh, to be like Sadpara’: Tributes pour in as Pakistan declares missing K2 climbers dead

  • Ali Sadpar’s son announces end of search operation for father and two other missing climbers attempting K2 winter ascent
  • Pakistan foreign minister, celebrities, journalists, members of the public take to Twitter to write tributes for one of Pakistan’s greatest mountaineers
Updated 19 February 2021
Sabah Bano Malik

ISLAMABAD: Tributes poured in for Pakistani climber Muhammad Ali Sadpara on Friday, a day after his son announced the end of a search operation for his father and two other missing climbers who had been attempting a winter ascent of the K2 mountain.

Pakistan’s Sadpara, Iceland’s John Snorri and Chile’s JP Mohr were last sighted on February 5, at around 10 am, at what is considered the most difficult part of the climb: the Bottleneck, a steep and narrow gully just 300 meters shy of the 8,611 meter (28,251 ft) high K2.
Addressing a news briefing with the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan region’s tourism minister, Raja Nasir Ali Khan, Sajid Sadpara, who last saw his father at about 8,200 meters, announced that he was “no more.”
“Rest in peace @ali_sadpara, @john_snorri & #JPMohr,” Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted. “Your spirit, passion, grit & determination in the face of every kind of hardship leaves behind a rich legacy, inspiring generations.”

Nestled along the China-Pakistan border, K2 is the world’s second highest peak and its most deadly mountain, with immense skill required to charter its steep slopes, high winds, slick ice and ever-changing weather conditions. Of the 367 people that had completed its ascent by 2018, 86 had died. The Pakistani military is regularly called in to rescue climbers using helicopters, but the weather often makes that difficult.
Earlier in January, a team of 10 Nepali climbers made history by becoming the first to ever scale K2 in winter. Sadpara and his expedition members were making their second attempt at climbing K2 this winter in a season that had already seen three other climbers die in the area.
Britain’s high commission in Pakistan, Christian Turner, wrote a message of tribute for Sadpara with the Urdu lyrics of the song: “Tum Chalay aao pahaaroun ki kasam” (Please come back for the sake of the mountains).

Amal Khan, features editor for Arab News, who has extensively reported on Sadpara’s story since he went missing, wrote a poem for the climber:
“Oh to be like Sadpara-- to die in the arms of my truth, kissed forever by the suns of my youth. Nuzzled in the Neck where my peace and story, my God and glory held me like a dream. Back when I was afraid, back when I was still here-- to be like Sadpara when my time is near.”

“Dedicating the 1st ever match at Gwadar Stadium to Pakistan’s son #MuhammadAliSadpara. The match tomorrow [Friday] will start with a prayer in his memory ... This is the beauty of our land, even our loss unites us ..from K2 to Gwadar to Quetta,” special assistant to the prime minister on overseas Pakistanis, Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari said on Twitter, referring to the inaugural match to be held at a new stadium built in Pakistan’s southwestern port city of Gwadar.

Senior leader of the ruling PTI party, Jahangir Khan Tareen, said: “Deeply saddened at the death of Ali Sadpara. He was a real hero of Pakistan. My heart goes out to his family.”

Journalist Nuzhat S Siddiqi said the only way to honor Sadpara’s memory was to “never to ignore his son, and to fund and sponsor each and every one of his mountaineering expeditions and other social endeavours for the betterment of his people.”

On Thursday, Gilgit-Baltistan tourism minister Raja Nasir Ali Khan had requested the federal government to present a civil award to Sadpara and his son.
He also said the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan would personally announce a financial package to support the Sadpara family.
“We will arrange scholarships for [Sadpara’s] children to help them with their education,” Khan said. “We will also request [the government] to name the Skardu airport after Muhammad Ali Sadpara and do the same with the mountaineering school in Shigar district.”

Author Fatima Bhutto tweeted for Sadpara: “Against all the terrible odds, he gave us hope.”

One of Pakistan’s top actors, Humayun Saeed wrote: “The tale of his love for the mountains, his passion & bravery will continue to inspire many.”

Topics: Ali Sadpara K2 K2summit Pakistani climbers

Pakistan installs first smog cleaning tower in Lahore for field testing

Updated 27 December 2024
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Pakistan installs first smog cleaning tower in Lahore for field testing

  • Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, often ranks among the most polluted places in world
  • Smog towers are large-scale air purifiers that create localized zones of improved air quality
Updated 27 December 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has installed its first locally designed smog cleaning tower in Lahore, a city that frequently ranks among the most polluted in the world during the winter season, the Environmental Protection Agency of Punjab announced this week.
Smog towers are large-scale air purifiers designed to reduce pollution by filtering out fine particulate matter and other harmful pollutants. Using fans, the towers draw in polluted air, which passes through high-efficiency filters to capture PM2.5 and PM10 particles, which pose severe health risks. The cleaned air is then released back into the surrounding area, improving local air quality.
While smog towers offer potential short-term relief, their efficacy in addressing large-scale urban air pollution remains debated.
“Pakistan’s first locally designed Smog Cleaning Tower installed in Lahore,” the provincial environmental agency said in a social media post this week. “A 15-day field test will be conducted to assess its performance for further installations.”

 
The smog tower, located in Mehmood Booti, is capable of purifying 50,000 cubic meters of air per hour and is designed to reduce harmful PM2.5 particulate matter.
Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, suffers from severe air pollution during the winter, largely due to the phenomenon of smog. A combination of vehicle emissions, industrial output and crop burning in Punjab contributes to hazardous levels of fine particulate matter, with the city often topping global rankings for poor air quality.
Residents endure weeks of poor visibility, health warnings and respiratory illnesses as the Air Quality Index (AQI) frequently exceeds 300, categorized as “hazardous” by international standards. This year, the AQI reached unprecedented levels in several cities of Punjab, rising well over 1,000.
Smog towers can create localized zones of improved air quality, especially in high-density urban areas. However, they are expensive to build and maintain, with limited coverage areas.

Topics: Smog Clean Tower Pakistan Smog Lahore Smog

Imran Khan says he declined house arrest, urges overseas Pakistani to halt remittances

Updated 27 December 2024
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Imran Khan says he declined house arrest, urges overseas Pakistani to halt remittances

  • Ex-PM’s social media post hints at a backchannel offering him a ‘deal,’ without naming interlocutors
  • Khan criticizes military trials and sentencing of supporters, says the proceedings violated basic rights
Updated 27 December 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been in jail for well over a year, said in a social media post on Friday he rejected a house arrest deal, as he also urged Pakistanis abroad to boycott remittances in protest against the country’s political situation.
Khan’s statement comes only a few days after the government began formal negotiations with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to address mutual differences and ease the country’s growing political polarization.
Talks began after Khan threatened civil disobedience, urging overseas Pakistanis to halt remittances unless the government freed PTI political prisoners and formed judicial commissions to probe violent protests on May 9 and Nov. 26, blamed on his supporters.
His latest message hints at a backchannel offering “a deal,” without naming interlocutors.
“The proposal I received for a deal was: ‘Negotiate with us, and we will give your party political space, but you will be placed under house arrest and moved to [your] Bani Gala [residence],’” read a message posted from Khan’s account on X, formerly Twitter.
“My response was that all other political prisoners must first be released. I would rather stay in jail than accept any deal. I will neither go into house arrest nor to any jail in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he added, referring to the province ruled by his party.
Khan doubled down on his call for overseas Pakistanis to boycott remittances, framing it as part of a campaign for “true freedom and the restoration of democracy.” It is not clear how his stance might affect the ongoing negotiations between his party and the government.
“Currently, the government is playing ‘committee after committee’ regarding our demands,” he said, adding that the boycott campaign would be halted if negotiations produced positive results.
Khan also assured his supporters that the coming year would bring better prospects for democracy in the country while pledging to remain steadfast.
Criticizing military trials and recent sentencing of his party supporters arrested in the wake of the May 9 protest last year, Khan said they had violated basic rights of civilians and caused international embarrassment for Pakistan.
“If these trials had been conducted in open courts, the video footage of the events of May 9 would have had to be presented,” he said, adding transparent trials were also guaranteed in Pakistan’s constitution.
Hundreds of people carrying flags of Khan’s party attacked government and military installations last year on May 9 after he was briefly detained on corruption charges.
The government is yet to react to the former premier’s statement.

Topics: Imran Khan adiala jail

Pakistan using dual approach of diplomacy, military action against Afghan-based militants — analysts

Updated 27 December 2024
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Pakistan using dual approach of diplomacy, military action against Afghan-based militants — analysts

  • PM Sharif says cross-border attacks from against civilians, security forces ‘unacceptable’ for Pakistan
  • An Afghan analyst believes Pakistani airstrikes in his country can create sympathy for groups like TTP
Updated 27 December 2024
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistan is using both political engagement and military action to counter militant groups operating from Afghanistan, analysts said on Friday, after Afghan authorities reported airstrikes conducted by Pakistani forces this week that killed 46 people.
The strikes, which targeted alleged hideouts of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), came amid allegations by Pakistani officials of cross-border militant attacks, as extremist violence targeting civilians and security forces has surged more recently.
Afghan authorities claimed the victims included residents from Pakistan’s border regions, who were uprooted during military operations against TTP fighters in recent years, as the United Nations expressed concern over civilian casualties and urged an investigation.

Residents gather near a damaged house two days after air strikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024. (AFP)

While Pakistan has not officially confirmed the airstrikes, with both the foreign office and the military’s media wing declining to comment, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the TTP cross-border attacks constituted a “red line” for his government, asking Afghan authorities to take action against militants using their soil.

The reported airstrikes coincided with a visit to Kabul by Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, to discuss trade and regional ties.
“It seems that Pakistan wants to continue to talk to the Taliban while also flexing its military muscle, just as the Taliban did once they engaged in talks with the US,” Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador, told Arab News.
He maintained that Pakistan’s military leadership believed its past support for the Afghan Taliban, when the US-led international forces were still operating in Kabul, would shield it from violent attacks, adding these armed groups did not consider any Muslim country “exempt from imposition of their extreme ideology.”
However, Sami Yousufzai, an Afghan political analyst, highlighted the delicate nature of Pakistan-Afghanistan ties, saying such strikes were viewed as a direct affront by Kabul.

A Taliban security personnel stands guard at the site two days after airstrikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024. (AFP)

“Afghanistan is particularly sensitive to invasions or attacks within its borders,” he told Arab News, acknowledging that the airstrikes resulted from growing pressure on Pakistan due to the surge in TTP attacks.
However, he maintained Pakistan had made errors of judgment relating to the timings of the attack, as one of its senior diplomats, Ambassador Sadiq, was in Afghanistan, and the number of civilian casualties.
Yousufzai informed that Afghan authorities had recently taken confidence-building measures at Pakistan’s request by relocating 200 TTP families from border areas to central Afghanistan, adding that the move had been undermined by the airstrikes.
“Afghanistan has little to lose, but as a more stable nation, Pakistan should avoid irresponsible actions,” he continued. “Such attacks will not eliminate the TTP. Instead, it will likely increase their support.”
He maintained the real issue was the TTP presence in Pakistan, adding that its fighters were even residing in districts like Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, which do not share border with Afghanistan, though they have experienced several deadly attacks.

A Taliban security personnel keeps watch from a helicopter two days after air strikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024. (AFP)

Mehmood Jan Babar, a Peshawar-based journalist specializing in Afghan and tribal affairs, argued the strikes did not derail diplomacy, as evidenced by continued meetings between Sadiq and Afghan officials, including Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Asked about Afghan warning of consequences to Pakistan, he said: “Such speeches and statements are often for public consumption.”
Syed Khalid Muhammad, a security expert in Islamabad, dismissed the claims of civilian casualties, arguing that militants deliberately use civilian populations as shields.
“The key thing to understand about the Pakistani airstrikes on the TTP is that the militants have hidden themselves among the civilian population, much like every terror group globally, which serves a greater purpose for them,” he added. “It allows them to manufacture an alternative narrative to gain sympathy.”

Residents gather near a damaged house two days after air strikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024. (AFP)

Meanwhile, Pakistani military’s spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said his country had repeatedly pointed out to the Afghan government on state level that the TTP and other militants had been launching cross-border attacks in Pakistan in a news conference earlier today.
“Pakistan will leave no stone unturned in dismantling terrorist networks and safeguarding its citizens against terrorism,” he told the media without confirming the airstrikes.

Topics: Pakistan Afghanistan border Pakistan Afghanistan clashes Pakistan Taliban Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

Pakistani investigation agency says has arrested human smuggler with India links

Updated 27 December 2024
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Pakistani investigation agency says has arrested human smuggler with India links

  • Five Pakistani illegal migrants were killed this month when their boat capsized near a Greek island
  • FIA says suspected human smuggler worked with an Indian in Azerbaijan to send people to Poland
Updated 27 December 2024
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistani authorities on Friday announced the arrest of a human smuggler from Karachi, accusing him of working with an Indian agent to illegally send people to Europe, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stressed the need to eradicate the practice while presiding over a meeting in the federal capital.
The arrest follows a renewed government drive against human smuggling after five Pakistani nationals died in a boat tragedy near the Greek island of Gavdos earlier this month.
Last year, the issue of illegal migration to Europe drew national attention when hundreds of people, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned after their overcrowded vessel capsized off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos during a voyage from Libya.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) announcement of the arrest of Abdul Shakoor, the suspected human smuggler, has brought yet another illegal migration route to Europe under the spotlight, as it said the accused collaborated with an Indian national based in Central Asia.
“An Indian agent named Gautam Sharma, residing in Azerbaijan, was coordinating the illegal transportation of the suspects from Azerbaijan to Poland,” the FIA informed, adding three other suspects, Hasib Ahmed, Qaiser Ahmed and Usman Ali, hailing from different areas of Punjab province, were also arrested.
“Human smuggler Abdul Shakoor had made agreements to send the other suspects to Poland, charging $5,028.89 per person,” the statement added. “The suspects paid the agent an advance of $898.02 per person.”
The FIA also named the organizations that helped the suspects obtain visas.
Separately, the prime minister chaired a review meeting on measures to curb human smuggling, wherein he reviewed the report of a committee formed to investigate the latest migrant boat tragedy near Greece and present its findings.
Sharif instructed the formation of a committee, led by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, to develop sustainable solutions for tackling human smuggling.
“The Prime Minister directed that all individuals involved in the heinous human smuggling trade be arrested within a week and legal action be taken against them,” said an official statement circulated by his office after the meeting.
The prime minister questioned why no disciplinary action had been taken so far against complicit government officials facilitating smugglers and directed authorities to ensure stricter visa checks and compliance with travel regulations for all outbound migrants.
The meeting was also provided an update on the identification of Pakistani nationals involved in the boat capsize near Greece this month and the progress of repatriating their bodies.

Topics: Federal Investigation Agency human smugglers

Pakistan rescues nine crew members from Indian cargo vessel after distress alert

Updated 27 December 2024
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Pakistan rescues nine crew members from Indian cargo vessel after distress alert

  • The rescue followed another operation this month in which 12 Indian crew members were saved
  • Incident reflects sporadic cooperation between the two nuclear rivals amid continuing tensions
Updated 27 December 2024
Arab News Pakistan

KARACHI: The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) successfully rescued nine crew members from an Indian cargo vessel, according to an official statement, after receiving a distress alert from Mumbai.
The incident marks the second such rescue operation by the PMSA within a month, highlighting sporadic cooperation between the two nuclear-armed rivals amid continued tensions.
Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan remain strained. Both sides also detain each other’s fishermen who inadvertently cross maritime boundaries, often leaving them to languish in prison for extended periods.
The distressed Indian vessel, Tajdare Haram, reportedly experienced water ingress approximately 120 nautical miles south of Karachi, forcing the crew to abandon ship and take refuge in a life raft.
“Upon receiving the distress alert from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) Mumbai, PMSA immediately launched a coordinated rescue effort,” the Pakistani agency announced in a statement Thursday.
“PMSA deployed an aircraft and directed nearby merchant vessels and PMSA ships to the scene of the incident,” it added. “The PMSA aircraft successfully located the survivors and facilitated the Indian Coast Guard vessel operating in nearby Indian waters for subsequent recovery.”
The rescue followed another operation earlier this month when the PMSA saved 12 Indian crew members from MSV Peeran-e-Peer in a similar situation.
The PMSA said it remained steadfast in its commitment to ensuring maritime safety and upholding international obligations under the Safety of Life at Sea Convention.

Topics: Pakistan India

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