Pakistan gives tremendous respect : Nirmal Purja

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 23 (APP):The team leader of the Nepali climbers Nirmal Purja, who scaled the K-2, believes Pakistan is a safe country for tourism saying the respect he got here was tremendous.

“K2 is the most dangerous peak in the world. Climbing a mountain at minus 60 degrees is a very difficult task and every member of our team played a key role in the success,” he said at the certificate distribution ceremony kept in their honor here at Pakistan Sports Complex on Saturday.

Four Nepali mountaineers Nirmal Purja, Mingma David, Mingma Tenzi and Mingma Gyalje last week broke the previous record during winters of climbing as high as 26,000 feet while attempting to scale K2. The maximum height achieved by teams in winters in the past was 25,320 feet.

Purja said they were grateful to the President of Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff and the Minister of Tourism Gilgit Baltistan for honoring them.

“We hope the Pakistani government will take further steps to promote tourism. Our spirits remained high while attempting K2 summit as made up our mind that nothing is impossible,” he said and added that the visa process should be made speedier so that more and more climbers can visit Pakistan.

On the occasion, Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Minister Raja Nasir Ali said we were promoting tourism in winter and the Nepali mountaineers have made history. “We will be signing more tourism agreements with the Nepalese government,” he said.

Nepalese Ambassador to Pakistan Tapas Adhikari said Nepal has friendly relations with the government of Pakistan.

“Nepal and Pakistan will jointly promote tourism. Apart from tourism, we will also work with Pakistan on other things,” he said and also thanked the Pakistani government for their cooperation.