ON 23 March, the President of Pakistan conferred nearly 70 civilian awards to Pakistanis and foreigners for myriad services to the nation.
Among other occupations, awards were given to qawwals, singers, fashion designers, young movie producers and many other civil service and military personnel.
They are all deserving of our felicitations and surely worthy of the prestigious recognitions bestowed on them.
Without taking anything away from all the worthy recipients, it is worth raising the question of how the list is finalized and what can be done to include those who are equally, if not more, deserving of national recognition.
Particularly, when their achievements are unparalleled in the country, and they have been internationally recognized.
Let me present one remarkable case which was brought to my knowledge.
Whereas, my articles are typically focused on national and international issues, I feel compelled to write this article on behalf of a young individual who deserves national recognition.
For transparency, I have never met the individual or know him otherwise.
I found out about him from a colleague who had seen his candidacy which incidentally failed to materialize into an award.
It turns out, he has been nominated for the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for three consecutive years, but has not made it to the final list.
Perhaps there is something that we don’t know about his background which disqualifies him, or maybe he just doesn’t know the right people, or perhaps he has not been publicized enough.
This article is my humble attempt of highlighting this amazing youth of Pakistan.
The name of the person is Shehroze Kashif.
He is a 23-year-old mountaineer from Lahore.
By way of background, on Earth there are 14 mountains that are called “Eight-thousander”.
These mountains have one thing in common, they are more than 8000 meters tall.
Pakistan has the honour to host five of these peaks.
Over the recorded centuries, only 60 climbers in the world have summited all of the Eight-thousanders, and Shehroze Kashif is one of these select few.
Not only is he a member of this elite group of climbers of the world, he also happens to be the youngest person in the group to have achieved this feat.
It didn’t happen overnight and he was driven to it.
His climbing career started at age 11 when he climbed Makra Peak which is 3,885 meters tall.
That was his dry run for bigger achievements.
By 17, he had climbed the first Eight-thousander.
And at age 19 he had climbed Mount Everest and K2, both within a 2 month period in 2021.
His energy and tenacity is unequalled and in 2022 he climbed 6 more peaks over a 5 month period.
By 2024, Shehroze had reached the apex of all fourteen Eight-thousanders in Pakistan, Nepal and China.
He was 22 years old at the time. Kudos Shehroze!
For his accomplishments, Shehroze has been widely recognized in the world.
He is the first and only Pakistani climber to have been awarded four Guinness World Records, including being the youngest in the world to summit K2 at 19.
By all accounts, Shehroze is not only a master mountaineer, but a wonderful human.
Another world renowned and consummate Pakistani climber, Naila Kiani, wrote “Shehroze has a heart of gold and radiates positivity where he goes….
One of the rare climbers who brings nothing but good energy…” And that “He has put Pakistan on the global mountaineering map”.
While Shehroze has received world recognition, he is lacking ownership from his own country.
As mentioned earlier, he has been nominated for a civilian award for three consecutive years, but he has yet to make it to the final list.
As a nation, we talk of the youth bulge since sixty percent of our population is under the age of 35.
They are disenchanted and demotivated and they need “heroes” to look up to.
The youth who don’t succumb to hopelessness and despair, but who accomplish amazing feats despite the odds.
Shehroze is one of these beacons for our youth and, perhaps, one of the finest unsung heroes of Gen-Z who is waiting to be recognized and embraced by his own country.
—The writer is a former Senior Advisor to the Government and a sector development specialist. He is a member of the APP Think Tank and Pakistan’s Buddhist Heritage Promotion Ambassador for GTPL, a company under SIFC.
