Ambassador Richard G. Olson hosted a huge reception on the American President’s Day last week. Almost 1,000 guests attended the festive event on the embassy grounds in Islamabad’s Diplomatic Enclave.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal and Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch were the chief guests.

In America, the President’s Day is marked on the third Monday of February, which this year is tomorrow, the 16th of the month.

Earlier, there were two holidays, one to mark George Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1732, and one holiday for Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12, 1809.

George Washington became USA’s founding president in 1776, when 13 British colonies broke away to create the United States of America. Today, America has 50 states.

Abraham Lincoln was America’s 16th president and he is particularly remembered for having signed the ‘Emancipation Proclamation’, which ended slavery in all states at the end of the 1861-65 civil war, and for keeping the national union intact.

Ambassador Olson, in his speech, explained that the embassy celebrated the Presidents Day as the country’s national day in February instead of the 4th of July, which is the actual day of the Declaration of Independence.

The ambassador went on to say that “early spring is a better time for an outdoor event than the hot weather in mid-summer”.

“This year’s reception was even better than previous years,” said a retired Pakistani military guest, mentioning that he had also appreciated the short military ceremony at the event.

“America is often seen as the world’s greatest democracy. Yet, it is also the world’s highest military spender, with about 40 per cent of the global military budget,” another guest added.

Published in Dawn February 16th , 2015

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