A mob burns the US embassy in Islamabad

Background

On 20 November 1979 armed militants seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Almost immediately, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini claimed that the United States was responsible, and the false claim was repeated in media reports in Pakistan on the morning of 21 November¹. Americans were already being held hostage in Tehran, where the US embassy had been seized on 4 November.

What happened

A small demonstration outside the embassy in Islamabad swelled within minutes as busloads of students arrived, many from Quaid-i-Azam University, with organisers linked to the Jamaat-i-Islami^1,2. The crowd breached the compound and set the buildings on fire, laying siege from midday until nightfall¹. About a hundred American and Pakistani staff took refuge in a secure vault as the building burned around them^2,3,6.

Marine Security Guard Corporal Steven Crowley, aged 20, was shot while on the roof and died of his wounds. Army Warrant Officer Bryan Ellis was killed, and two Pakistani employees of the embassy died. Two protesters were also killed^1,3. Pakistani troops took hours to reach the compound; critics, including embassy staff, said the government's response was slow and inadequate^2,4.

Why it mattered

The attack came at the lowest point in relations - weeks after the aid cut-off and Bhutto's execution - and amid the Iranian hostage crisis. President Carter telephoned Zia to thank him for his help, and Zia pledged that Pakistan would bear the cost of restoring the damaged American facilities^7,5. Within five weeks, the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan would transform the relationship again; the rebuilt embassy would become the hub of a renewed partnership^4,5.