ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an investigation after the nation's flag carrier drew widespread criticism for putting out an advertisement that showed a plane flying toward the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The ad was meant to promote the resumption of Pakistan International Airlines' flights to the French capital and had the caption "Paris, we're coming today".

Some social media users noted the ad's resemblance to the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001.

The image has been viewed more than 21 million times on X since it was published last week and has drawn swift backlash.

Sharif ordered an investigation into the matter, while Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has also criticized the ad, Pakistan's Geo News reported.

Addressing Parliament, Dar said, “The Prime Minister has directed [authorities] to investigate who conceived this ad. It is a stupidity,” Geo News quoted him as saying. The deputy prime minister also expressed concern over the caption, “Paris, we're coming today”.

The 9/11 attacks saw hijackers crash passenger jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC, killing nearly 3,000 people.

The alleged mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003.

Pakistani journalist Omar Quraishi said PIA's ad left him "truly speechless".

"Did the airline management not vet this?

"Do they not know about the 9/11 tragedy — which used planes to attack buildings? Did they not think that this would be perceived in similar fashion," he wrote on X.

The airline has not commented on the incident. — Agencies