Bashir Ahmad (camel driver)

Bashir Ahmad Sarban (Urdu: بشیر احمد) (c. 1913 – 15 August 1992)[1] was an impoverished Pakistani camel cart driver, who, on 20 May 1961, met with the then US vice-president Lyndon B Johnson, and accepted an invitation to come to America.

He met Bashir Ahmad in a group of camel drivers on a roadside, where the men shook hands and exchanged friendly greetings.

With significant press attention after the acceptance,[6] the vice-president took advantage of the People-to-People program to fund Ahmad's travel expenses.

Ibrahim Jalis, a popular columnist in Pakistan, reported that everyone was excited by the fact that the vice president had invited Bashir to come to America.

[9] At the end of his stay, as a gesture of further goodwill, vice-president Johnson made arrangements for Bashir to visit the Islamic holy city of Mecca on his return to Pakistan.