New Delhi: There were red faces in the government on Sunday when it was found that there were full-page newspaper advertisements from the women and child development ministry against female foeticide--with the picture of a former Pakistani air chief adorning it.
The advertisements issued by the government's Directorate of Visual Publicity (DAVP) for the ministry on the occasion of National Girl Child Day had inexplicably the photograph of former Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Ahmed, who was Pakistan's air chief 2006-2009, along with such national heroes as Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag and Amjad Ali Khan.
With television channels playing it up, the government quickly ordered a probe into the faux pas.
"An inquiry is being ordered into the matter. We are convening the meeting," said Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath, who initially said that it being a Sunday the ministry could not do anything.
According to official sources, DAVP had in turn outsourced the concept and design of the advertisement to a private agency.
It was not immediately known how the photograph of a Pakistani air chief got into an Indian government advertisement and who cleared the final advertisement.
The Prime Minister's Office apologised for the inclusion of the picture. "The Prime Minister's Office has noted with regret the inclusion of a foreign national's photograph in a Government of India advertisement," the media adviser to the prime minister said in a statement.
"While an internal enquiry has been instituted the PMO apologises to the public for this lapse," he added.
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