Pakistan climber cleanses K2 as shrine to fallen father

This picture taken on July 15, 2023, shows Sajid Ali Sadpara holding his climbing gear at K2 Basecamp, world’s second tallest mountain in the Karakoram range of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. (AFP/File)
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Updated 10 August 2023
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Pakistan climber cleanses K2 as shrine to fallen father

  • Sajid Sadpara and his team have picked some 200 kilograms of litter from K2
  • Move is tribute to deceased father Ali Sadpara who died during 2021 expedition

K2 BASECAMP, Pakistan: Gazing up from K2 Basecamp, Sajid Ali Sadpara sees Earth's second-highest mountain, his father's final resting place, and a blight of litter on the furthest reaches of the natural world.
Sajid dons a down coverall stitched with Pakistan's green flag to scale the 8,611-metre (28,251-foot) spur of rock, clearing an icebound grotesquerie of spent oxygen canisters, mangled tents and snarled rope discarded over decades by climbers questing for the summit.
Over a week some 200 kilograms (400 pounds) of litter is hacked from the pinnacle's frozen grip by his five-strong team and ferried precariously back down, he says, a rare act of charity in one of Earth's most unforgiving environments.




This picture taken on July 5, 2023, shows a mural of Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara, center, in the town of Skardu, Gilgit–Baltistan in Pakistan. (AFP/File)

It is a high-altitude tribute to Sajid's father, legendary climber Ali Sadpara, honouring the place where they bonded in nature and where his body remains after a 2021 father-son expedition fell foul of the "savage mountain".
"I'm doing it from my heart," Sajid told an AFP team at K2 Basecamp, where 5,150 metres of elevation labours breathing and avalanches tremor off an amphitheatre of surrounding slopes.
"This is our mountain," the 25-year-old said, sizing up the task above. "We are the custodians."

K2 was forged when India collided with Asia 50 million years ago, sprouting the Karakoram range of mountains across Pakistan's present-day northeastern Gilgit-Baltistan region.
It was named by British surveyors in 1856 -- denoting the second peak in the Karakoram range. Over time nearby mountains with alphanumeric designations became better known by names used by locals.
But sequestered up a glacial cul-de-sac on the Chinese border -- days from the faintest suggestion of human settlement -- K2 kept its foreboding moniker, stoking a reputation as a more wild, untamable, and technically demanding ascent than Nepal's Everest, which stands 238 meters higher.
First conquered by Italians in 1954, its winter winds scourge up to 200 kilometers per hour and temperatures plunge to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit).
But it also ignites primal passions with its archetypical triangular silhouette -- the shape of a peak a child might draw.
After two days on paths slit through valleys and four more across the Baltoro Glacier -- a 63-kilometer hulk frozen in a permanent storm swell and seamed with crevasses -- K2's first glimpse ripples frisson through hikers.
It stands like an altar at the end of a colossal aisle. Sundown deepens its rocky reliefs and burnishes snowy slopes to rose gold. Pilgrim paragliders come to whirl in its shadow.
One renowned wilderness photographer labeled this vista "the throne room of the mountain gods".
"We love it more than life itself because there's no place of such beauty on Earth," said Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) warden Muhammad Ishaq.
Against this sublime backdrop, Ali Sadpara stood out among a majority white, Western mountaineering elite as a domestic hero who rose from humble roots to scale eight of the world's 14 "super peaks" above 8,000 meters.
"Pakistan's name was raised high because of Ali," said 48-year-old Abbas Sadpara, an unrelated veteran mountaineer who guided the AFP team to K2.
Two years ago Sajid was attempting a perilous winter ascent of K2 with his father and two foreigners when illness forced him back.
The three men who carried on were later discovered dead below the "bottleneck" -- an overhang that looks like a frozen tidal wave on the final stretch before the summit.
Sajid recovered his father's body and performed Islamic rites at an improvised grave near Camp Four -- the last stop off before the top.
He marked the spot with GPS coordinates before the mountain enveloped the remains at a height of more than 23 Eiffel Towers.




This picture taken on July 16, 2023, shows a man collecting litter from K2 at Basecamp, world’s second tallest mountain in the Karakoram range of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. (AFP/File)

Sajid bears that loss with soft-spoken grace.
His voice, unbruised with emotion, is hard to make out in blaring Islamabad restaurants or the resort town of Skardu where a mural of his father looks on as expeditions jump off in growling jeeps.
But in the nearby village of Choghoghrong -- an oasis of golden cropland blotched with lavender bushes -- it resonates as he recounts the uncommon appreciation of the natural world his father handed down while they worked the land between summit pushes.
"This simple life and this natural life we spent here," Sajid said. "This whole world was my village."
"I am most connected with nature in this village," he said.
But K2 exerts a gravitational pull: a place of extreme risk but also the promise of absolute zen in the curious, adrenaline-addled climber's psyche.
"We want to be on mountains just for mental peace," Sajid said. "If we see any rubbish the feeling is totally different."
Abbas Sadpara said "K2 is no longer as beautiful as it once used to be. We have destroyed its beauty with our own hands."
But Sajid has climbed half the 8,000-metre peaks without supplemental oxygen, a daredevil undertaking, and holds no ill will towards those who jettison gear on the slopes.
"After a summit, you are totally exhausted," he said. "The main thing is survival."
But there is a saying in Islam he is fond of recalling: "Cleanliness is half of faith."
"Climbing to the top is a different thing," he explains. "Cleaning is something that you feel personally from the heart."


In 2019, plastic waste was discovered 11 kilometers below the sea in the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth.
With commercialized mountain tourism conveying growing numbers of tourists to the summit, Everest is also growing notorious for vast blemishes of trash.
K2 witnessed a record of some 150 summits last season prompting concern the same ironic dynamic -- of climbers leaving trails of waste while pursuing the world's most untouched vistas -- has crept into play in Pakistan.
"There's two mountains that the trash has been a problem and that's K2 and Everest," said Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, 37, whose summit of the Pakistan peak last month sealed a record-quick ascent of all 8,000-metre mountains in three months and a day.
"Commercial companies, they take in more equipment," explained CKNP ecologist Yasir Abbas, who oversaw a campaign pulling 1,600 kg of refuse off the mountain in 2022. "If more people go to climb there will be more waste."
"What goes up must come down," he says. "The people who are cleaning K2 are risking their life for the environment."
But the clean-up mission goes beyond the environmental, spilling into the code of fellowship climbers abide by at altitude -- beyond the earthbound crutches of rescue services and emergency rooms.
Cast-away ropes can mislead teams with minds clouded by altitude sickness towards oblivion. Abandoned tents force other campers out into more exposed spots at the mercy of the elements. Each tossed O2 canister is another hefty hazard at the whim of gravity and wind.
"It's not my trash or your trash, it's our trash," Harila told AFP in Islamabad.
"Here in K2 if there's some mistake you fall down. If you fall down, all the way you come down," said Mingma David Sherpa, 33, who led a Nepalese team with the Nimsdai Foundation also clearing some 200 kilograms from K2 before passing the baton to Sajid in mid-July.
One day before that moment, the young Sadpara sets eyes on the mountain after days of trekking through glacial wilderness. "I see K2 and I think a different way," he says. But "from a distance you can't see the garbage".
"K2 is more than a mountain for me."


Digital, forensic evidence suggests actress Humaira Asghar Ali died in Oct. 2024 — officials 

Updated 09 July 2025
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Digital, forensic evidence suggests actress Humaira Asghar Ali died in Oct. 2024 — officials 

  • Ali’s decomposed body was found at a flat in Karachi on Tuesday when a court bailiff arrived to vacate the rented property 
  • Police cite phone data, social media inactivity to estimate death occurred nine months ago, family declines to claim body

KARACHI: Pakistani actress and model Humaira Asghar Ali is believed to have died at least nine months ago in October 2024 based on digital and forensic evidence, investigators told Arab News on Thursday, after her decomposed body was discovered this week in her Karachi apartment.

Ali’s remains were found at a flat in the city’s Ittehad Commercial area when a court bailiff arrived to vacate the rented property on Tuesday, following a complaint by the landlord. Police said the bailiff broke open the door and found the deceased inside.

Initially, Karachi Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed, who conducted the post-mortem, said the body’s “very advanced stage of decomposition” suggested death had occurred around a month prior.

However, police investigations into Ali’s phone records, her last social media activity and interviews with neighbors found no indication that she had been alive after October 2024, Arab News has found. Her last Facebook post was on September 11, 2024 and last Instagram post on September 30, 2024. Neighbors interviewed by police and reporters said they had not seen her since Sept-Oct last year. 

Deputy Inspector General of Police Syed Asad Raza confirmed that Ali’s phone was last active in October 2024, with the final recorded call placed that month.

“As per Call Detail Record (CDR) the last call was made in October 2024,” Raza told Arab News, without offering further details.

Two officials with direct knowledge of the case, who declined to be named, said the estimated time of death was around October 2024.

“Humaira’s body is likely nine months old,” the first official said on condition of anonymity. “She probably died between paying her last utility bills and when her electricity was disconnected in October 2024, probably due to non-payment of the bill.”

A second official who also requested anonymity said expired food items and rusted containers in the kitchen supported that timeline.

“The jars had rusted, and food had expired six months ago,” the official said. 

There was only one other apartment on the same floor, which was vacant at the time, possibly delaying detection, investigators said. 

“The occupants of that apartment told us they returned in February, and by then the smell had faded. After ten to fifteen days, the odour starts to decrease. The balcony door had also been left open,” the second official added.

Water pipes in the home were dry and rusted and no alternative power source was found. 

“There were no candles either,” the official said.

Police surgeon Syed, who conducted the autopsy on Tuesday, returned to the apartment on Wednesday with senior officers.

“We have collected multiple surface samples from the scene, which have been sent to the laboratory,” she said, declining to provide further comment.

Police said Ali’s family had declined to claim the body. It is unclear whether she was estranged from her relatives or what the exact reason was that they had refused to receive her remains. 

Ali rose to fame after winning Veet Miss Super Model in 2014 and appearing in reality show Tamasha Ghar in 2022.

She has featured in television dramas such as Just Married, Ehsaan Faramosh, Guru, and Chal Dil Mere. In cinema, she appeared in the 2015 action-thriller Jalaibee and later in Love Vaccine in 2021.


Pakistan military dismisses fears of Iran-style strikes on its nuclear sites

Updated 09 July 2025
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Pakistan military dismisses fears of Iran-style strikes on its nuclear sites

  • Army says ‘no concern whatsoever’ about becoming ‘next target’ after Israel-US attacks on Iran
  • Military spokesman warns any misadventure against nuclear Pakistan would have ‘horrific consequences’

ISLAMABAD: Military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Wednesday there was “absolutely no concern” within Pakistan’s military establishment that Pakistan could become the “next target” for attacks on its nuclear facilities, following last month’s conflict between Israel and Iran.

In June, Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites after Tel Aviv claimed Tehran was close to developing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denied. Pakistan condemned the Israeli and American strikes at the time, calling them a violation of international law. Islamabad has repeatedly assured the world that its nuclear assets are secure and intended solely for deterrence.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Chaudhry was asked if there were concerns Pakistan could be targeted next in light of recent developments in the Middle East.

“There is absolutely no concern, whatsoever, in the military, that Pakistan can become the next target,” Chaudhry responded.

He said Pakistan was an established and declared nuclear power, adding that the world had never attempted a “misadventure” against a nuclear state.

“And if such a misadventure is taken or attempted, then it will lead to horrific consequences which the world may not be able to endure,” he warned.

The army spokesperson reiterated that seeking conflict with a nuclear-armed country was “absurd, sheer stupidity and inconceivable.”

His comments come amid heightened regional tensions and renewed focus on nuclear security following the Israel-Iran conflict. 

In early May, India and Pakistan engaged in their worst fighting in decades after Delhi blamed Islamabad for supporting an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April, an allegation Pakistan denied. The clashes included missile strikes, fighter jet operations, artillery fire and drone attacks, leaving more than 70 dead on both sides before a US-brokered ceasefire on May 10.

Though the ceasefire has held, tensions remain high. India has since put a decades-old water-sharing agreement on hold, with Islamabad warning that any attempt to divert or stop its waters would be treated as an “act of war” and met with full force.


Pakistan waives all duties, taxes on sugar imports to curb price hikes

Updated 09 July 2025
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Pakistan waives all duties, taxes on sugar imports to curb price hikes

  • Announcement comes as sugar prices surge to Rs200 [$0.70] per kg in several parts of Pakistan
  • Pakistan to import 350,000 tons of sugar in two phases initially, says food security ministry 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Food Security Ministry announced on Wednesday it has decided to waive all duties and taxes on sugar imports to ensure the product is available to the public at affordable prices. 

In Pakistan, high sugar prices have triggered public outcry and become flashpoints for opposition criticism in the past, with allegations of hoarding and cartelization frequently surfacing in election years or periods of economic volatility.

The latest announcement from the ministry comes as sugar prices surge to nearly Rs200 [$0.70] per kilogram in several parts of the country, triggering public concern. National Food Security Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain chaired a meeting of the steering committee on sugar on Wednesday, which decided to import the commodity through the Trade Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to ensure transparency and quality control. 
“To facilitate this process, the government has exempted all duties and taxes on sugar imports so that sugar can be made available to the general public at affordable prices and inflationary pressures can be eased,” the ministry said in a statement. 

It said sugar will be imported initially in two phases. In the first phase, a tender for 200,000 metric tons of sugar will be issued, followed by another tender for 150,000 metric tons after one week.

The ministry said these import quantities have been determined in line with immediate market requirements and anticipated demand in the coming weeks.

“The imported sugar will be of premium quality, meeting standard market expectations— specifically, the coarse-grain variety commonly used by consumers,” the statement said.

“Additionally, post-shipment inspection will be strictly enforced to ensure that quality standards are upheld.”

Hussain said the government would deploy a streamlined and “active system” to guarantee timely distribution of imported sugar across the country, leaving no room for hoarding or profiteering.

“He expressed hope that this strategic intervention will help stabilize sugar prices in the local market and significantly ease the financial burden on consumers,” the ministry said. 


Saudi aviation team to conduct security audit of seven Pakistani airports in August

Updated 09 July 2025
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Saudi aviation team to conduct security audit of seven Pakistani airports in August

  • Saudi team to conduct audit at airports in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Multan, says official
  • Saudi Arabia’s aviation team expressed satisfaction with Pakistan’s aviation security procedures in its last audit two years ago 

KARACHI: A Saudi aviation team will conduct a security audit of seven Pakistani airports in August, a Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) spokesperson said on Wednesday. 

The security audit will cover airports in Pakistan’s Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Multan cities, PCAA spokesperson Shahid Qadir said.

He said the director-general of Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has approached Pakistan’s DG PCAA, Nadir Shafi Dar, to conduct the aviation security audit. 

“A Saudi aviation security team will visit Pakistan in the coming month and will conduct this audit in August and onwards,” Qadir told Arab News. 

The Saudi aviation team is coordinating closely with the PCAA’s Directorate of Aviation Security (AvSec), which will host the visiting delegation, Qadir said. The PCAA’s director general has designated the AvSec director to oversee the audit process, he added. 

This marks the second such audit by Saudi aviation authorities, who conducted their inaugural security assessment of Pakistan in 2023. The Saudi team later expressed satisfaction with Pakistan’s aviation security procedures, which involve multiple stakeholders such as the Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA), the Airport Security Force (ASF), airlines, cargo handlers and catering companies.

The development takes place as Pakistan’s civil aviation sector shows marked improvement in international benchmarks.

Following the separation of the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) from the PCAA and the enactment of the Civil Aviation Authority Act, Pakistan has achieved a score of 86.73 percent in the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP). 

As per the PCAA, this rating is higher than the global average of 71 percent and India’s 73 percent.

Separately, a two-member team from the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport (DfT) began its aviation security assessment of the Islamabad International Airport on Tuesday.

The team, accompanied by a representative of the British High Commission, will review airport security procedures, catering, and flight operations over its three-day visit.

“All aviation security stakeholders, including PAA officials, ASF personnel and representatives from PIA, British Airways, Air Blue, Kitchen Cuisine, Ras Menzies and others attended the initial briefing,” a PCAA handout said.

The PCAA said Pakistan has previously performed well in the UK’s DfT audits, saying that officials are optimistic about the outcome of the latest assessment. 

The PCAA said its director general has also initiated engagement with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in pursuit of direct flight operations to the US.

The development follows Pakistan’s national carrier resuming flights to Europe in January after the European aviation safety agency lifted its four-year ban on the airline.

Pakistan International Airlines has also approached UK authorities for permission to resume its services to the country. 

PIA was banned by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), UK and the US after Pakistan opened an investigation into the validity of pilots’ licenses following a PIA plane crash in Karachi in May 2020 that killed 97 people.


Police say militants behind quadcopter attacks in northwest Pakistan that killed one, injured three

Updated 09 July 2025
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Police say militants behind quadcopter attacks in northwest Pakistan that killed one, injured three

  • No group has claimed responsibility for attacks, one of which police say targeted a police station in Bannu
  • Pakistan’s military blamed militant outfits backed by India for drone attacks that killed four children in May

PESHAWAR: One woman was killed while three others were injured in two quadcopter attacks in northwestern Pakistan this week, a police official said on Wednesday, blaming militants for carrying out the assault. 

The first attack took place on Tuesday night in the northwestern tribal Bannu district’s Srah Bangla area, District Police Officer (DPO) Saleem Abbas Kulachi said. The quadcopter strike killed a woman and left three injured, including two children, he added.

The second attack targeted the Miryan Police Station in the same district at 6:45 am on Wednesday, he said. The police officer added that an explosive-laden quadcopter deployed by the “Khawarij” had struck the facility.

Khawarij is a commonly used term by Pakistani authorities to describe extremist factions like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“These attacks are being carried out by militants who have acquired and deployed quadcopters in carrying out attacks,” Amir Khan, a media officer for the regional police officer in Bannu, told Arab News.

He did not provide further details. Kulachi, however, said an investigation is underway to identify those responsible for the Miryan Police Station attack.

The TTP, which has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistan’s armed forces and civilians since 2007, has not claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

On May 19, a suspected drone strike reportedly led to the deaths of four children in Hurmuz village of the northwestern Mir Ali tehsil and injuries to five others, including a woman.

Pakistan’s military denied responsibility for the attack days later, attributing the incident to a proscribed militant network which it said was operating on “the behest of their Indian masters.”

“Initial findings have established that this heinous act has been orchestrated and executed by Indian-sponsored Fitna Al Khawarij,” the military’s media wing said in a statement.

Later in May, police said at least 22 people were wounded in another suspected quadcopter attack near a volleyball ground in Pakistan’s South Waziristan district.

The police spokesperson had said the origins and operators of the drone remained “undetermined.

Islamabad has repeatedly blamed Afghanistan-based militant groups for launching attacks inside Pakistan, a claim that Kabul denies.

Pakistan also blames India for backing militant groups in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. India denies the allegations.