Naila Kiani to be conferred Sitar-i-Imtiaz for Everest summit

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday announced to confer Sitar-i-Imtiaz – the third-highest civilian award – on female mountaineer Naila Kiani following her successful Mount Everest summit. 

On Sunday, Naila became the second Pakistani woman after Samina Baig to climb the 8848-meter-tall Mount Everest –  the highest peak in the world – located in Nepal.

According to a notification issued by PM Office, the premier ‘approved the conferment of the civil award Sitar-i-Imtiaz on Naila Kiani’ in recognition of her achievement of successfully summiting Mount Everest.

Separately, she also became Pakistan’s fastest woman to ascend six peaks higher than 8,000 metres on Tuesday after she scaled Mount Lhotse (8516 meters) — the fourth-highest peak in the world.

It was her third successful 8000-er summit this season after Mount Everest and Annapurna and came only two days after she conquered the world’s highest peak.

Last month, she had scaled Annapurna Mountain (8,091 metres) – the 10th highest peak in the world also located in Nepal – to become the first female from the country to do so.

She also ascended Gasherbrum-II (8,035m) in 2021 and climbed Gasherbrum-I (8,068m) and the world’s second-highest peak K2 in July 2022.

It is worth mentioning here that Naila is a banker by profession based in Dubai, an amateur boxer and a mother of two kids.

She first gained prominence after images of her wedding shoot at K2 Basecamp in 2018 circulated on social media.

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