Mountaineers Abdul Jabbar Bhatti and Saad Mahmoud are prepared to depart from Islamabad for Nepal on Wednesday with the mission to plant the Pakistani flag on the world's highest peak, Mount Everest.
A ceremony was organised in their honour on Sunday by an Islamabad-based group of adventurists, Bikers and Hikers.
At the event, the mountaineers spoke of their ambition to project Pakistan in a positive light on the global stage.
Bhatti, a retired lieutenant colonel of Pakistan Army, said he was financing the Rs5-million trip partially from his own pocket and partially with the help of a private donor.
The expedition, he said, would hopefully be completed in two months.
Bhatti, an accomplished mountaineer, is a past recipient of the President's Pride of Performance award and the Tamgha-e-Basalat (Medal of Good Conduct) by the Pakistani government.
He has successfully summitted Broad Peak (8,051 metres high) in 1985; Gasherbrum 2 (8,035m) in 1986 and Spantik Peak (7,027m) in 2012.
Mount Everest, which stands 8,848m (29,029 feet) high above sea level has not been climbed by many Pakistanis before.
Renowned mountaineer Hassan Sadpara was the only Pakistani to have climbed six of the world's tallest mountains including Mt Everest (8848m), K2 (8611m), Gasherbrum I (8080m), Gasherbrum II (8034m), Nanga Parbat (8126 m) and Broad Peak (8051m).
Other than him, Samina Baig, who climbed Mount Everest in 2013, and Nazir Sabir, who scaled the peak in 2000, lay claim to the honour of scaling Mt Everest.
