Monday 15 January 2018

LEHTRAR TO PANJPEER HIKING TREK

Danoi hike  starts from the Lehtrar rest house on the Lehtrar Road. This road links Islamabad to Bagh via Kotli Sattian. Total distance between Islamabad and Lehtrar town is around 30 Kilometers. Rest house is behind the petrol pump just a little ahead of the main bazaar. The hike starts behind this rest house and is actually an abandoned jeep road. In a couple of hours, this path reaches Danoi rest house while passing through a beautiful pine forest. Danoi rest house Is at an approximate altitude of 1300 meters.

If you have lesser time, another option is to skip the first part and start the hike right from Danoi Rest House itself where a metaled road joins from Lehtrar. To reach rest house on a vehicle, follow the Lehtrar road for a further few kilometers towards Kotli Sattian till a place called as Thoon Mor from where a road turns right towards Baba Saeen Tikka Sarkar shrine in Kamra. There is also a sign board indicating this shrine. Total traveling distance from Islamabad to Danoi rest house is around 60 kilometers. If you are coming on your own vehicle, you can park it here. Tell the rest house guards to take care of it, and they will do it well. The rest house was built in 1928 and is right in the middle of the beautiful pine forest. You can also spend the night here through an advanced booking from the forest department office near Sawan station, Rawalpindi but they are generally reluctant to entertain people without reference.

Just a few steps from the rest house, there will be many paths climbing upwards. You can take any of these which will cross the road at a few points before joining it back. Hike towards the Panjpeer big boulders for another 2 hours or so. The climb is gentle. The distance is around 7 Kms. The views to your left are breathtaking as you see the sheer thousand feet drop and huge, impressive sandstone rock formations to your right. After hiking for the said time you would come to a spot that constitutes huge sandstone base with boulders spreading far and wide for miles. The whole plateau floor is made up of these sand stone boulders and I have never seen anything like this before. This place is perched high up off the valley floor and is home to hundreds of butterflies floating around in a gentle breeze. Towards the Northeast you can see the mighty Jehlum. The elevation here is around 1750 meters. You can hike further up for about 30 mins to reach the highest point (1850m) where there is an SCO tower and their outpost. Views from there are even better as you can see hills stretched for miles with unobstructed views to as far as white snow capped mountains of Kashmir towards North East and Muree and Patriata Hills towards Northwest. The temperature never exceeded beyond mid twenties. The place is an ideal spot for a campsite and offers ample virgin rocks to rock climbing enthusiasts.

You can reach back to the Danoi rest house in around 1 hour and 30 mins. If you wish to go camping here, you can stock your supplies at the Danoi rest house, and either haul the load up in your back packs or hire porters to do the job for you. The locals here are quite cooperative and nice. However to be extra safe I would suggest that you carry protection equipment if you wish to camp for the night. A second option is to bring a security guard with you.

Panjpeer is the highest point of the Danoi Ridge in Kotli Sattian/Kahuta. It is called Panjpeer because of a shrine it has at the top. Locals believe this was a place where five saints came and got settled. It is at an altitude of approximately 1800 meters. In winters the top gets a few ft of snow each year. The rocks are an ideal place for camping. The place not only offers the amazing rocks but also water falls, streams, a thick forest and local species of plants and animals. The village around the path offers a lot to understand the local life and hospitality of the local people.




Danoi Rest House









NEELA SANDH WATERFALL - KOTLI SATTIAN / ISLAMABAD

Kotli Sattian is one of the most beautiful region of Pakistan. It will sure be very surprising to even the residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi that outskirts of Islamabad actually host a waterfall and adjoined natural swimming pools. This Waterfall runs throughout the year. Neela Sandh is a blue water pond on Lehtrar road, Kotli Sattian. This is a picnic spot which is worth visiting, not only this, this is only 40 minutes drive from mainstream Islamabad city. But as soon as you reach there, you’ll realise, you’ve been missing a very beautiful natural phenomenon in your backyard.

Neela Sandh Picnic Point actually comprises of two identical water falls, each one have its own natural swimming pool. If you ever end up visiting there, make sure you use life jacket while swimming, as water is deep enough and it can be very risky to swim there without a life jacket.








Saturday 13 January 2018

KASHIF SATTI - IT PROFESSIONAL



Kashif Satti is Vice President of Managed Services Delivery at Dataprise in Washington D.C. area,where he works to influence company strategy around Service Desk and Automation. He is an IT professional with more than 15 years of experience in Information Technology.  Mr.Satti received his BS and masters degree from UCLA in Computer Sciences and holds numerous technical certifications including: A+, N+, MCP, CLA, and CLE. He is the recipient of the 2014 Gold Stevie® Award for Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year. He hails from Santh Sarola, Kotli Sattian.
He is a brilliant IT professional with great leadership skills, who successfully managed Global Service Desk Team along with many other departments ( Onboarding, NAS, Remediation and Automation), not many would be able to manage that many departments under one umbrella. However, Kashif always been the person that look for ways to keep the team growing and make the team as the best winner team. He is a person with great expertise and deep experience of modern business solutions and technologies. He is not only a well-educated and independent perfectionist but also an inspiring Manager.

In Jan 2014, Kashif Satti declared as the Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year - Technology Industries. Gold Stevie® award in the “Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year - Technology Industries” category in the eighth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.




Friday 12 January 2018

TAUSEEF "TAZZ" SATTI - TAZZ SPORTS, AUCKLAND



Tauseef "Tazz" Satti is a developer of cricket gear brand Tazz Cricket and a Director of Cricket at Kumeu Cricket Club in Auckland, New Zealand. Over the years he  also worked as a cricket player/coach in 6 different Countries. A former Area Cricket Coordinator at Northland Cricket in Northland, New Zealand. He had an experience of coaching Denmark U-15 International team in European Championship 2009 as well.
Tazz Satti (born 5 March 1980, Rawalpindi, Pakistan) is a former cricketer who played List A cricket for the Islamabad Cricket Association and Hawke Cup cricket for Northland Cricket Association (New Zealand). He moved to New Zealand in 2002, where he was a professional for Sydenham Cricket Club, Christchurch (2002–2005) and Northland Cricket Association (2007–2011).
Satti earned his MBA degree in 2015 from Massey University, Auckland. He is well traveled entrepreneur with a great appetite for innovation, at the age of 20 he started his first business venture "TS Sports" with $0 capital. He Created a cricket gear brand "Tazz" in 2003 , "Tazz" is now accredited by "International Cricket Council" and endorsed by several professional cricketers around the world. In 2004-05, Satti worked as online manager for "Leather Direct ", which is New Zealand's largest Leather good stockiest, and also launched their first ever user interactive website in 2005.

Thursday 11 January 2018

SAIMA SATTI - BRITISH COUNCIL



Saima Satti is currently serving as Head of Business Improvement at British Council in United Kingdom. She has over 15 years of experience working with the British Council, taking up different roles in her tenure. Her parents hailed from union council Bunn, New Murree.

Saima Satti is a focused professional and natural leader. Her ability to sift out extraneous information quickly and anticipate potential problems has helped the British Council to deliver globally.


         Experience
  • Head Of Business Improvement at British Council, London.
  • Deputy Head Of IELTS at British Council, London.
  • Global IELTS Operations Manager at British Council, London.
  • Regional IELTS Manager - UK, Ireland & Americas, London.
  • Director ELT Pakistan at British Council, Lahore.

    Education
  • Charted Institute Of Marketing       PD in Marketing (2007-2008)
  • Regents College London         RSA Cambridge ESOl CELTA (1999)
  • The University Of Reading              BSC (HONS)  1990-1994

Wednesday 10 January 2018

Dr. RABAB SATTI

Dr Rabab Satti is a former assistant Professor of Quaid-I-Azam university Islamabad. She earned her PhD in biochemistry and Molecular microbiology from University of York, UK. She holds an M.Sc in (Biochemistry 2000-2002), M Phil (Biotechnology, 2003-2005) from Quaid-I-Azam university, Islamabad, Pakistan.

She is the Winner of prestigious Higher Education Commission Postgraduate fellowship award (£100,000) in 2006. In 2013, she received 0.25 million pounds each year for 2 years Early Career Research Award (ECRA) for Young Scientist on a Project Titled Molecular Characterization of LIPH protein.

Rabab Satti joined the Quaid-I-Azam university as an assistant professor on Interim Placement of Fresh PhDs Programme for one year and in 2013, and upgraded to the university payroll. She was awarded department grant for supervising M Phil students on her projects during her stay in Quaid-I-Azam university as an assistant Professor. Her first grant was also approved as Principal investigator and she supervised three M Phil students. Rabab Satti was actively involved in (M.Sc/M Phil), teaching, Research and as administration activities.



Publications by Rabab Satti
  • A novel deletion mutation in the DSG4 gene underlies autosomal recessive hypotrichosis with variable phenotype in two unrelated consanguineous families.
  • DNA induces Conformational changes in a recombinant human mini chromosome maintenance complex. Hesketh EL, Parker-Manuel RP, Chaban Y, Satti R, Coverley D, Orlova EV, Chong JP. J Biol Chem. 2015. 20;290(12):79739
  • Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus in Urban Ghettos of Twin Cities

  •          Click here for her research work "Modulation of MCM helicase activity



Tuesday 9 January 2018

SHAHID TASLLIM SATTI



After a very long and competitive process, Shahid Tasllim Satti was selected and awarded to participate in the highly competitive and prestigious fully funded Scholarship Program through the US State Department as a principal candidate from Pakistan. The program was organized by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. As a cultural ambassador of the country, he presented Pakistan on different international forums.
Shahid Tasllim Satti was also elected as an Executive Board Member of Pakistan USA Alumni Network (PUAN) Islamabad. Presently, he is studying MS in Information Technology from the University of Newcastle, Sydney, Australia. He has completed his Postgraduate in IT from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. Besides this, he has done Masters in Business studies in 2017.
He has studied different courses on HRM, Business Management and Administration in the USA and successfully completed a program of Specialist in HRM and Business Administration and Management with flying colors. He was also involved in Community service and received awards and certifications from US department of state.

In addition to this he worked in HR/Admin/IT department of different organizations in the USA and Pakistan. This experience gave him the opportunity to work with diverse groups in the highly professional environment.

Shahid is also supervising Educational Project with the highly professional team in Pakistan and also mentoring prospective exchange scholars.

Apart from his educational career and social work he is a passionate artist. Since childhood, he was into drawings, paintings, and sketches on various subjects and won many competitions. Mostly he worked on nature and national heroes. According to him, he tries to spread the message of peace through colors. He was officially elected as a graphic designer for the Year Book group project in the USA, he designed many pages for the book and the work was highly appreciated.


Shahid Tasllim Satti originally hails from Santh Anwali, Kotli Sattian.






Monday 8 January 2018

LT ARSALAN ALAM SATTI - SHAHEED, SITARA-E-BASALAT




Lt. Arsalan Alam Satti was born (17th April 1995) and raised in the village of Ghel Sattian, Murree. He was the only son and brother of three sisters. 

Arsalan Satti secured regular commission in Pakistan Army by joining Pakistan Military Academy L/C 135 on 13th May 2015 and completed his military training on 15th April 2017. He belonged to 29 Sindh Regiment.


He looked into everything in a different perspective, his desires and goals were no longer surrounded by this petty, mundane world. He was into another world. He wanted to conquer the world but in a way that was beyond our wisdom, a way which seemed to be out of this world but a world full of serenity and bounties.

Arsalan Satti described himself in an intro of his Facebook profile; "I alone can't change the world, but i can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples."


He participated in "Operation Khyber-4" after completion of his training from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul. In August, "
Operation Khyber-4" in Rajgal Valley had been successfully completed. The operation was launched in July to wipe out terrorists in the valley by targeting their hideouts. The army then established a number of check posts in the border region to stem the movement of militants. Arsalan Satti was promoted to Lieutenant days before his martyrdom and appointed as an Officer Commanding at the high-altitude post next to Afghan border after the military completed its operation against terrorists in the area. He was among those officers and soldiers who were posted to defend the area from cross-border infiltration.

The 22-year-old officer was commanding a post in Rajgal Valley, which borders Afghanistan, when it came under fire from the Afghan side on 23rd September 2017, at 09:00am. Lieutenant Arsalan Satti was shot in the head by a sniper and was airlifted to Peshawar for treatment, but he succumbed to his injures at the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar.

Arsalan Satti was laid to rest on Sunday 24th September 2017 in his native village Ghel Sattian in Murree with full military honours. 


Lieutenant Arsalan Alam Satti, you surely had it all! ALL HAIL TO YOU!
Lt. Arsalan Alam Satti Shaheed's father Shamsher Alam Satti couldn't bear the loss of his beloved son, he suffered a heart attack on 29th November 2017. He was taken to CMH Murree where he breathed his last.


The Government of Pakistan awarded Sitara-e-Basalat to Lt. Arsalan Alam Satti - Shaheed for his gallantry, after his martyrdom on 23rd March 2019.                                        
                                       



               
By: Anjum Satti


Sunday 7 January 2018

LT ARSALAN ALAM SATTI - SHAHEED





Lt. Arsalan Alam Satti was born (17th April 1995) and raised in the village of Ghel Sattian, Murree. He was the only son and brother of three sisters. 

Arsalan Satti secured regular commission in Pakistan Army by joining Pakistan Military Academy L/C 135 on 13th May 2015 and completed his military training on 15th April 2017. He belonged to 29 Sindh Regiment.


He looked into everything in a different perspective, his desires and goals were no longer surrounded by this petty, mundane world. He was into another world. He wanted to conquer the world but in a way that was beyond our wisdom, a way which seemed to be out of this world but a world full of serenity and bounties.

Arsalan Satti described himself in an intro of his Facebook profile; "I alone can't change the world, but i can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples."


He participated in "Operation Khyber-4" after completion of his training from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul. In August, "
Operation Khyber-4" in Rajgal Valley had been successfully completed. The operation was launched in July to wipe out terrorists in the valley by targeting their hideouts. The army then established a number of check posts in the border region to stem the movement of militants. Arsalan Satti was promoted to Lieutenant days before his martyrdom and appointed as an Officer Commanding at the high-altitude post next to Afghan border after the military completed its operation against terrorists in the area. He was among those officers and soldiers who were posted to defend the area from cross-border infiltration.

The 22-year-old officer was commanding a post in Rajgal Valley, which borders Afghanistan, when it came under fire from the Afghan side on 23rd September 2017, at 09:00am. Lieutenant Arsalan Satti was shot in the head by a sniper and was airlifted to Peshawar for treatment, but he succumbed to his injures at the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar.

Arsalan Satti was laid to rest on Sunday 24th September 2017 in his native village Ghel Sattian in Murree with full military honours. 


Lieutenant Arsalan Alam Satti, you surely had it all! ALL HAIL TO YOU!
Lt. Arsalan Alam Satti Shaheed's father Shamsher Alam Satti couldn't bear the loss of his beloved son, he suffered a heart attack on 29th November 2017. He was taken to CMH Murree where he breathed his last.
                                        
                                       



               
By: Anjum Satti


Wednesday 3 January 2018

THE PEOPLE, RACES AND TRIBES OF KOTLI SATTIAN




The People of Kotli Sattian are generally well built and of balanced height, sturdy and strong, hardworking and fair in complexion. They are proud of their ancestors and pure-blood.

The people of this region are inborn soldiers and belong to the martial races in the northwest of the sub-continent. They possess a distinctive place and role in the

Armed Forces of Pakistan. Subdivision Kotli Sattian is the home of prosperous families, Bureaucrats and high rank military officers, who prefer to live in the glitz and glitter that is Islamabad.

There are four principal tribes that reside in the Subdivision. The Sattis are in absolute majority. The second major tribe is the Dhanial, who are in majority in the Karor area, comprising six villages. Karor is the central settlement.


The next major tribe is the Abbasi. This tribe occupies the whole village of karor. Also, the Abbasi families are scattered through the subdivision but in quite limited numbers.

The other major tribe is the Kethwal. They have a whole village named Dhirkot Kethwalan, and they also live in Phofandi and Balawara.


Sadaat who possess a distinct status among the people and respected, The Dhok Seelah, Karl, Burhad, Patian and Mori settlements are where Sadaat are in good numbers. There are still a number of families long inhabited in the area. However, they are not called by their actual family name. They are known by their age-old professions.



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