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Thursday March 28, 2024

‘Beyond the Heights’ screened

Islamabad‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ With this motto in mind, Samna Baig — a 22-year-old student — set out to achieve her goal of climbing Mount Everest and was successful — the first Pakistani female mountaineer to do so, thanks to the support and encouragement of her enlightened

By Ishrat Hyatt
March 07, 2015
Islamabad
‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ With this motto in mind, Samna Baig — a 22-year-old student — set out to achieve her goal of climbing Mount Everest and was successful — the first Pakistani female mountaineer to do so, thanks to the support and encouragement of her enlightened brother, Mirza.
To highlight her extraordinary achievement, a documentary of her journey from a small village, Shimsal, in Hunza, to the top of the highest mountain in the world, titled ‘Beyond the Heights’ was screened at the Serena Hotel under its initiative, ‘Adventure Diplomacy.’
The event was attended by a large number of invitees from civil society and many ambassadors or their representatives, including those of the six countries from the Adventure Diplomacy Group (ADG) — Argentina; Indonesia; Nepal; Russia and the USA — who supported the later, headline making journey of the siblings to conquer the seven highest peaks in the world, while Serena supported them in Tanzania.
Addressing the gathering Mirza spoke of how women were as capable of men of achieving their dreams if they were allowed by society and given support by the male members of their family. Telling of how he had been turned away at the gates when he first approached the sponsors for help in achieving their combined dream of bringing a positive image of Pakistan to the fore, he said their perseverance paid off and he and his sister were grateful to the Serena management for their unstinting support.
“My sister is the bravest woman I know,” he said, “but we must empower the women of Pakistan in their endeavour to achieve their goals.” He concluded by thanking everyone concerned for their help and encouragement.
The ambassador of Nepal, Bharat Raj Paudyal, began by thanking the Serena Hotel for hosting the event with a special reference to CEO Aziz Boolani as “the force behind ADG.” Praising the young siblings for their adventurous spirit; determination and courage in undertaking the audacious journey to the highest point in the world and more importantly, giving a meaningful message of gender equality and empowerment since Mirza stayed back and let his sister complete the climb to the top. “This is a rare example of gender empowerment in practice,” he said. “There cannot be a more fitting tribute as we are all set to celebrate International Women’s Day this weekend.”
Chief guest, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry lauded Serena’s efforts to present the soft image of Pakistan and made everyone in the hall smile as he guilelessly revealed that his wife had earlier expressed the opinion that it appeared Serena was doing more than others to project a positive picture of Pakistan! After acknowledging the siblings courage and efforts to promote Pakistan in particular and adventure in general; the support from the ADG and others, he said the Foreign Office would work on a project to get the documentary screened wherever there was a Pakistani mission abroad — for which he received a round of appreciative applause.
President of the Alpine Club, Col (r) Sher Ali also thanked the organisers and sponsors while lauding the achievements of the siblings.
Closing the ceremony before refreshments were served, CEO Serena Hotels, Aziz Boolani, thanked everyone for attending the event which was to highlight the extraordinary achievements of a young girl and acknowledge the siblings role in presenting the softer image of Pakistan. “The younger generation is full of promise and very talented,” he said, “We at Serena will continue doing our best to highlight their achievements and lend our support.”
While the documentary is interesting and shows Saminas journey to the highest peak, juxtaposed with images of her life back home in her village and the breathtaking landscape of the area, the background commentary is not clear. Also while it is commendable that the producers have used music from the Northern areas, it is a little overpowering at times. If this documentary is to be screened for audiences abroad it needs a voiceover or complete sub-titles by someone who has good knowledge of the English language and a toning down of the music to be fully appreciated for its remarkable topic. Go, Pakistani women, go!