Father-daughter duo sets sights on Nanga Parbat amidst bureaucratic hurdles

GILGIT: Selena Khawaja, the 15-year-old Pakistani mountaineer known as the “Mountain Princess,” has her sights set on the summit of Nanga Parbat, one of the world’s most formidable peaks.

Selena announced her intentions and the current status of her expedition on her social media page, detailing the unforeseen obstacles her team has faced. She is accompanied by her father Yousaf Khawaja.

However, her journey has faced significant bureaucratic challenges.

Earlier on Tuesday, Selena outlined her aspirations and the hurdles she faced. She aimed to set several world records: becoming the youngest person to summit Nanga Parbat, the first to start their 8000-meter peaks from Nanga Parbat, the oldest person (her father) to summit Nanga Parbat, and achieving the youngest and oldest summits together, including as a father-daughter duo.

“I took six months off from school, including my exam time of O levels, and trained extremely hard to fulfill my dream for Pakistan. Millions of rupees, we didn’t have, were spent on my dream for Pakistan because we didn’t have any sponsors,” the Abbotabad-born mountaineer said.

She said all their “dreams for Pakistan were shattered and all money was wasted” when they received a letter from the Diamer Tourism Department, prohibiting climbers under the age of 16 from climbing any 8000-meter-high peak without a permit.

“When we wanted to go up to Camp 1 and 2 for rotations, we were told by two police personnel there that we couldn’t go up because their SP (superintendent of police) said first get the permit and then go up. We wanted to do our rotations until the permits were ready but were not allowed to do so,” she wrote.

She said they were forced to descend to Chilas and then to Gilgit to resolve the paperwork, costing over Rs0.1 million. She lamented that, although she had a permit last year, this year she was three months too young to qualify, illustrating the illogical nature of the regulations.

“This is the bitter reality in Pakistan unfortunately,” she said. In Gilgit, they met with Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan, who promised to resolve their issues.

A spokesperson for the Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Department confirmed to HUM News English that the issues have now been resolved.

“They may have left for the peak from Gilgit,” he said. However, with the climbing season nearing its end, the window for a successful summit is rapidly closing.

In the latest post on Friday, Selena said: “The paperwork is done eventually. Very kind of Haji Gulbar Khan (The Chief Minister), Raja Nasir (Minister of Planning and Development), and Ghulam Muhammad (Minister of Tourism) to make all this happen. Now it’s too late for the Nanga Parbat summit, there is less than a 20 per cent chance of success. Please wish us good luck.”

Also read: Rockfall on Nanga Parbat hinders operation to save stranded climbers

Selena Khawaja became the youngest person in the world to reach the summit of Mount Spantik, also known as the “Golden Peak”, situated in scenic Gilgit-Baltistan. She achieved the feat at the age of 10.

In February 2018, the mountain princess became the youngest person to scale the 5,765-meter (18,914 feet) high Quz Sar Peak in Shimshal Valley, Hunza, at just 9 years old. She continued her mountaineering achievements by successfully climbing Minglig Sar Peak, standing at 6,050 meters (19,850 feet), in June 2018, and Wilyo Sar, which reaches an altitude of 6,150 meters (20,177 feet), in August 2018.