The US Embassy in Islamabad would be closed on Monday (January 15, 2024) in observance of the US Federal holiday, the embassy said in a statement.

“The embassy will re-open for official business on Tuesday, January 16, 2024,” it said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

The third Monday in January is Martin Luther King, Jr Day is considered a federal holiday in the US where nationals celebrate the life and legacy of the famous civil rights activist and Nobel laureate.

King, who was assassinated in 1968 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, is known for his non-violent protests and marches for equal rights for Blacks in the US.

In 1963, over 200,000 people from different background and walks of life marched to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington where King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. The following year, the-then President Johnson got a law passed prohibiting all racial discrimination.

At the age of 35, he was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. He announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.