Pakistan Navy Ad Features Images of Indian Warships

In an embarrassing goof-up, an advertisement issued by the Pakistan navy on Tuesday for a multinational exercise prominently featured images of Indian Navy warships even though India is not among the participating countries.

The full-page advertisement for the Aman-11 exercise in the Arabian Sea, which appeared in The Nation and Nawa-e-Waqt newspapers, featured photographs of Indian Navy’s Delhi, Godavari and Talwar-class warships. The insert also featured images of US warships under the slogan: “Together for peace”.

Warships, aircraft, Special Forces and representatives from 39 countries are participating in the exercises for fostering peace in the region and enhancing cooperation to counter maritime threats like piracy.

Within hours of the advertisement being posted on websites of newspapers, blogger Shahid Saeed posted the original image of American and Indian warships from the Malabar 2010 exercise that was used in the advertisement. There was no official word from the Pakistan Navy.

Blooper in official advertisements is something that unites the neighbours, though. In March last year, an advertisement issued by the police in Pakistan’s Punjab province carried the logo of India’s Punjab police. In January last year, an Indian government advertisement featured former Pakistan Air Force chief Tanvir Ahmed alongside PM Manmohan Singh and Kapil Dev.

[mappress]

Source: Times of India New Delhi Edition, March 9, 2011;