This photo shows Pakistan’s ambassador to Iraq, Sajjad Hyder, being introduced to H. H. Sheikh Sabah, the ruler of Kuwait, by Iraq President Abdul Salam Arif as our ambassador-designate to Kuwait. The occasion was a diplomatic reception at the Presidential Palace, in Baghdad. At extreme right is the Soviet ambassador.
Abdus Salam Arif had overthrown Iraqi strongman Col. Abdul Karim Kassim in a violent coup d’etat in 1963. At this stage Iraq and the newer state of Kuwait were on neighbourly terms. Mr Sajjad Hyder’s debut ambassadorial appointment at age 41 was to Baghdad in 1961 and he was subsequently and concurrently Pakistan’s first ambassador to Kuwait. His next assignment, with concurrent accreditation to Sanaa, Yemen, was to Egypt, as Cairo was the pre-eminent Arab capital of the day.
Abdus Salam Arif had overthrown Iraqi strongman Col. Abdul Karim Kassim in a violent coup d’etat in 1963. At this stage Iraq and the newer state of Kuwait were on neighbourly terms. Mr Sajjad Hyder’s debut ambassadorial appointment at age 41 was to Baghdad in 1961 and he was subsequently and concurrently Pakistan’s first ambassador to Kuwait. His next assignment, with concurrent accreditation to Sanaa, Yemen, was to Egypt, as Cairo was the pre-eminent Arab capital of the day.