Leaving red faces in the government, an official advertisement by the ministry of women and child development(WCD) against female foeticide, which appeared in newspapers on Sunday, carried the photograph of a former Pakistan Air Force chief.

The advertisement put out on National Girl Child Day carried the photographs of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and national heroes Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag and Amjad Ali Khan. Accompanying them was an untitled photograph of former PAF chief Tanvir Ahmed who retired last year.

While it was not immediately clear how the picture of a Pakistani officer landed in a government advertisement, the din forced the Prime Minister?s Office (PMO) to intervene and issue a public apology. The PMO said an internal inquiry had been ordered.

While the inquiry will establish the reason for the ?goof-up?, it is learnt that the final layout of the advertisement was cleared through various levels of the government, including WCD minister Krishna Tirath.

?After the final layout comes to the ministry, all officials including an under secretary, joint secretary and even the minister approves it before it is sent for printing. The same procedure was applied here too. But at which level was the mistake made will need to be inquired into,? an official said.

After the ?goof-up? was noticed, Tirath held a meeting with ministry officials, including the secretary and additional secretary.

Tirath tried to play down the issue: ?The message is more important than the image. The real motive behind this advertisement was to encourage females to become mothers and stop female foeticide.?

?The photograph is only symbolic. Since the name has not been carried with the photo, nobody knows who he is. But now that the issue has been brought to our notice, we have initiated an inquiry,? she said.

She said action would be taken against erring officials. ?In any case, I regret the mistake. It will take some time to inquire into it but I will definitely take action once it is established where the goof-up took place,? she said.

The PMO said it was sorry for the lapse. ?The PMO has noted with regret the inclusion of a foreign national?s photograph in a Government of India advertisement. While an internal inquiry has been instituted, the PMO apologises to the public for this lapse,? the media advisor to the PM said in a statement.