The prime minister of Pakistan has ordered an investigation over an ad by the country’s flag carrier that was criticized as resembling the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Pakistan International Airlines ad announcing the resumption of flights from Islamabad to Paris, which was posted on its official X account Jan. 10, shows a plane flying toward the Eiffel Tower with the tagline, “Paris, we’re coming today.”
The post has received more than 21 million views on X since it was published.
The ad quickly drew backlash on social media from commenters who said it evoked imagery from the 9/11 attacks in which almost 3,000 people were killed, when two hijacked passenger planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, a third hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought the hijackers and prevented it from reaching Washington.
“Did the airline management not vet this?” Omar Quraishi, a former political media adviser, said on X.
The airline has not publicly commented on the ad. It could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, told lawmakers this week that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered an inquiry into the controversy, describing the ad as “stupidity,” Pakistan’s Geo News reported.
Pakistan has long struggled with domestic terrorism, as well as the overseas activities of terrorists based there. The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003, while Osama bin Laden, whose Al Qaeda terrorist group planned the attacks, was killed there by U.S. forces in 2011.
PIA flights to the European Union were suspended from 2020 until late last year over safety concerns after almost a third of its pilots were found to have cheated on their exams. The airline remains banned in the United States and Britain.
Sharif had said the resumption of flights to the E.U. would help improve the airline’s image.
