! SISTERS OF THE SUMMIT ! : PAKISTAN'S MOUNTAINEERING HONOURS

PROUD PAKISTAN : The World Students Society rises to give a standing and a rousing ovation to these brave, determined and exceptional '' Sisters Of The Summit'' :

Sindh [ Madeeha Syed ], Balochistan [ Laraib Batool ], Khyber PakhtunKhwa [ Marya Banghash ],  Punjab [ Bismah Hassan and Iqra Jillani ], Azad Kashmir [ Mona Khan ], Islamabad Capital Territory [ Shahreen ] and Gilgit Baltistan [ Bibi ' Zoni ' Afzoon Aslam and Zeba Shigri ].

IN-A-FIRST-KIND expedition -10 women from every region of Proud Pakistan came together to climb the 5,400 Bari La Peak.

'' I've climbed many peaks, including several 6,000 ers,'' Bibi ' Zoni ' Afzoon Aslam, team leader of the women's expedition to Bari La Peak [ 5,000 m ] that took place last month told me.

'' But this was a new experience for me - to lead nine women from different parts of the country.'' I was one of those nine women.

Bibi Afzoon, or Zoni as she is fondly called, is a well-regarded mountaineer and a guide from Gilgit-Baltistan. She was a part of the women's expedition to K2 [2024] as well.

'' When I looked at the faces of the girls approaching the summit one by one, I was so happy,'' she adds. '' I'm very proud of us and that we can all come together and rise as one unit.''

Organized by the Alpine Club of Pakistan under its new management - Maj Gen Irfan Arshad [ president ] and Ayaz Shigri [ general secretary ] - the women's expedition to Bari La was the first of its kind.

Never before had there been an expedition where women from across the country - Sindh [ Madeeha Syed ], Balochistan [ Laraib Batool ], Khyber PakhtunKhwa [ Marya Banghash ],  Punjab [ Bismah Hassan and Iqra Jillani ], Azad Kashmir [ Mona Khan ], Islamabad Capital Territory [ Shahreen ] and Gilgit Baltistan [ Bibi ' Zoni ' Afzoon Aslam and Zeba Shigri ] -had come together to climb one mountain.

We also had Amina Chaudhry in the team, who was climbing while filming the entire expedition and flying a drone at the summit as well.

The World Students Society thanks Madeeha Syed. The writer is a journalist, an award-winning  documentary fimmaker and radio correspondent.