Pakistani mountaineer Naila Kiani will be conferred the prestigious Sitara-e-Imtiaz for her efforts after becoming the first woman from the country to scale six 8,000-meter peaks around the world.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif decided to award her the medal to recognise her otherworldly achievement.
Naila recently added Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world standing at a massive 8,516 meters. What makes her ascent even that more impressive is she completed the climb just two days after summiting Everest.
She had conquered Annapurna I, the tenth-highest peak in the world just last month, adding it to a list that also includes Gasherbrum-II and the notoriously difficult-to-climb K2.
The mother-of-two has achieved all this in a little more than a year since taking up the sport of mountaineering.
Often accompanied by Shehroze Kashif, who himself will soon find himself on one of the honours lists, the two continue to set examples for the budding talent in the country.
Shehroze is just two peaks away from becoming the youngest climber to scale all 14 eight-thousanders after conquering Dhaulagiri-I.
Naila Kiani being awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz is sure to inspire thousands of Pakistani youth to look into the niche sport.
