The photo shows Ambassador Sajjad Hyder taking the honour guard salute at the Kubbeh Palace after presenting credentials. He arrived in Cairo from Baghdad a few days before the 1965 War with India. On the early morning of 6 September, upon learning of the attack on Lahore, without awaiting instructions from Islamabad, he immediately called a press conference in the Embassy, the first by any ambassador, denouncing the Indian aggression and reiterating that Pakistan and its people were at war.
As an Ambassador designate has to present credentials to officially operate, since President Gamal Abdel Nasser was abroad, the Egyptian authorities exceptionally permitted him the next day to present credentials to Vice President General Abdel Hakim Amer. My two brothers Tariq and Saad and I accompanied in the chase car filming the cheering flag-holding children lining the route.
During the 1965 War, India got a court order against a PNSC ship carrying vitally needed ammunition proceeding from Port Said, the exit of the Suez Canal, because it was also carrying railway wagons bound for Bombay. Ambassador Hyder sent a telegram to the Foreign Office recommending he be recalled if the ship was not let go. He drove to the court in Port Said and witnessed the judgment that the ship, with its red for danger flag should proceed as the ammunition it carried constituted a potential threat to the Canal. He then went post haste with Tariq by launch to the Pakistani ship, conveyed the welcome news so that it immediately set sail.
While Nasser had been cool to Pakistan after the Suez crisis and close to India, he assured the ambassador that Egypt was supportive and that if Allah forbid, Lahore fell, which the ambassador assured would never happen, he would strongly denounce India. The ambassador met a high-level visiting Saudi delegation that regretted that they lacked jet planes to send in support to Pakistan but assured of funds to cover the purchase of new fighter planes.
His other major accomplishments were continuing his studies of Arabic started in Baghdad to better understand the Holy Quran and he received a standing ovation on his lecture on Iqbal in Arabic at Al Azhar University.
In recognition of his services to Pak-Egyptian relations, he was awarded the top diplomatic post abroad of High Commissioner to India in 1968 at the age of 48.
As an Ambassador designate has to present credentials to officially operate, since President Gamal Abdel Nasser was abroad, the Egyptian authorities exceptionally permitted him the next day to present credentials to Vice President General Abdel Hakim Amer. My two brothers Tariq and Saad and I accompanied in the chase car filming the cheering flag-holding children lining the route.
During the 1965 War, India got a court order against a PNSC ship carrying vitally needed ammunition proceeding from Port Said, the exit of the Suez Canal, because it was also carrying railway wagons bound for Bombay. Ambassador Hyder sent a telegram to the Foreign Office recommending he be recalled if the ship was not let go. He drove to the court in Port Said and witnessed the judgment that the ship, with its red for danger flag should proceed as the ammunition it carried constituted a potential threat to the Canal. He then went post haste with Tariq by launch to the Pakistani ship, conveyed the welcome news so that it immediately set sail.
While Nasser had been cool to Pakistan after the Suez crisis and close to India, he assured the ambassador that Egypt was supportive and that if Allah forbid, Lahore fell, which the ambassador assured would never happen, he would strongly denounce India. The ambassador met a high-level visiting Saudi delegation that regretted that they lacked jet planes to send in support to Pakistan but assured of funds to cover the purchase of new fighter planes.
His other major accomplishments were continuing his studies of Arabic started in Baghdad to better understand the Holy Quran and he received a standing ovation on his lecture on Iqbal in Arabic at Al Azhar University.
In recognition of his services to Pak-Egyptian relations, he was awarded the top diplomatic post abroad of High Commissioner to India in 1968 at the age of 48.