Singer Abrar-ul-Haq has announced to fulfill the dream of a lost mountaineer, Muhammad Ali Sadpara, to build a school in his village on Sunday.
Sadpara went missing on February 5th while climbing K2 peak along with two foreign climbers, John Snorri(Iceland) and JP Mohr(Chile) during the K2 Winter Expedition 2021. Pakistan Army Aviation with the help of the Iceland government concluded a nine-day search operation last week. The trio was attempting to reach the 8,611-meter (28,251 foot) Korakarum-2 summit, commonly known as K-2, without supplemental oxygen to make history. They, however, lost contact with the base camp when they were only 411 meters away from the snow-capped top.
Haq said he got to know about Sadpara’s dream from people and hence his organization will fulfill his dream.
I have just heard the news that Muhammad Ali Sadpara wanted to build a school in his village after his mission therefore we have decided to fulfil his dream and Inshahallah a school will be built in the village of our hero in his memory.#muhammadalisadpara pic.twitter.com/0A2X6eJOZg
— Abrar Ul Haq (@AbrarUlHaqPK) February 15, 2021
“I have just heard the news that Muhammad Ali Sadpara wanted to build a school in his village after his mission,” Abrar wrote, adding, “Therefore we have decided to fulfill his dream and Inshahallah a school will be built in the village of our hero in his memory.”
The singer garnered immense appreciation on social media for taking up the noble cause. Even since his disappearance, calls have been made on social media to honor the lost climber who has under his belt several climbing records.
Several social media users have asked the government to announce a national award for him for his services to Pakistan.
Ali Sadpara’s accomplishments
Born in 1976 in a remote Sadpara village in Skardu district of the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region which borders neighboring China, Sadpara was the only Pakistani to have scaled eight peaks measuring above 8,000 meters – five in Pakistan and three in Nepal.
Adding another feather to his hat, he climbed 8,126-meter (26,660 feet) Nanga Parbat, also known as the “killer mountain” located in Gilgit-Baltistan without oxygen in 2016.
Together with Alex Tixon from Spain, he attempted to climb the world’s tallest mountain Everest in Jan. 2019 but had to descend due to bad weather conditions.
According to Karrar Haidri, the secretary of Alpine Club, the country’s official mountaineering organization, Sadpara had had plans to scale the remaining six 8000- meter peaks to join the elite of club mountaineers who climbed all 14 “eight-thousanders.”
Formerly known as the Northern Area and once part of the erstwhile Pakistan administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, the region at the confluence of the world’s greatest mountain ranges –Karakoram, Himalaya, Hindukush, and Pamir – is witnessing a brain gain, as people return to invest in the region.
Read more: Pakistan loses iconic climber Ali Sadpara: pronounced dead
It is home to six peaks of over 8,000-meter of altitude, including the K-2.
However, local climbers have long been forced to work as mere porters to carry loads with foreign climbers due to financial constraints and lack of training.
Sadpara began his career in the early 1990s as a low-altitude porter, which means that he would only go to the base camp, carrying loads with mountaineers.
In 2005, he became a high-altitude porter, which allowed him to climb to the last camp at a maximum height. Only a year after, he was part of a team that scaled Geeshabroom-2, the 13th highest mountain in the world at 8,035 meters (26,362 feet) located in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Read more: Army will deploy C-130 to resume its K2 search operation for the missing climbers
Football was his first love and choice, according to Qasim Butt, a childhood friend of Sadpara. He played as a midfielder and contributed to the Government College Skurdu’s victories for several years.
“Climbing was his second choice. He developed a passion for climbing when he started going with international climbers as a porter, which is one of the few income sources for area youths,” Butt, a local journalist, told Anadolu Agency.