G.M.Baig was a good friend from 1982 (when this photo was taken). He had a book stall on the main road bazaar. There's not many roads in Gilgit, anyway. He was well known in the Ismaili community and his book stall was well known to foreigners, trekers, and locals.
In 1982 he tried to help us in all ways with our aborted Peshawar ride. It was good to ride up to his shop knowing that we'd, indeed, come from Peshawar.
A nice reunion.
The day before we left Gilgit, on August 26, Mr. Baig, his wife, and 2 children left for Islamabad on PIA flight 303 . As we rode out of town on the 27th (August) we heard that flight 303 had gone missing somewhere over Babu Sar. It was thought that it was under the ice on Nanga Parabat somewhere. As we rode down towards Chilas we encountered search parties that were heading up on Nanga Parabat to look for it.
It was never found.