Picture of the Day: Welcoming the ‘Check’ Prime Minister

Posted on May 11, 2007
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Foreign Relations, Photo of the Day, Pinglish
259 Comments
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Adil Najam

On your left is the picture of the flag of the Czech Republic. On your right is a ‘Check’ (or, rather, checkered flag; often used in car racing. The two should never be confused. Except for the fact that ‘Czech’ is pronounced as ‘check.’

Ordinarily, this should not be a problem. But right now the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic is visiting Islamabad, and the Capital’s PR people have adorned flags on flagpoles and a number of (very) large banners to welcome him in the spirit of good hospitality. The only problem is that instead of putting the ‘Czech’ flags on the banners, they have ‘Check’ flags!


I saw these while driving back into Islamabad on the from the Airport. I rushed back to see if I would figure out who was responsible for this little gaffe and maybe alert them to the mistake before the Czech PM arrived. Unfortunately, it turned out that the Czech PM was already here.

I wonder what he and his team thought of this. Did they even mention it to their hosts or did they just keep politely quiet? I also wonder what they thought about the banner that read: “We Pray for the Czech Progress and Prosperity”?I am sure they liked the sentiment, but maybe they also wondered why Pakistanis are praying for Czech progress and prosperity instead of working harder for Pakistani progress or prosperity. On the other hand, maybe they do not think as hard about what is written on banners as I do!

I have no way of knowing this, but my theory of how this might have happened is this – Someone tells someone to find out what a Czech (read ‘check’) flag looks like; they look up ‘check flag’ on Google, and that is the one which makes it way on the banner.

Nice story for a chuckle? But how would you feel if the Pakistan Prime Minister goes to another country and they mess up the flags this way?

259 responses to “Picture of the Day: Welcoming the ‘Check’ Prime Minister”

  1. Shuaib says:

    Ahem! I must say, nice observation. You get a +1 promotion in the list of people who love criticizing their own nation for any reason they can find. :)

    But even with that little piece of sarcasm, I must say again, nice observation!

  2. Sacha Pakistani says:

    I am amazed at those who think that this should be hushed up and not talked about. For God’s sake, isn’t it better to point out mistakes so that we learn not to make them again. How long will we keep throwing our dirt under the carpet.

    Nationalism is not keeping quiet about your mistakes. True nationalism is working to make sure that mistakes dont happen again.

    Thank you ATP for highlighting this. And sorry any Czech readers for this mistake. Forgive us for it is a silly mistake and not meant to offend you.

  3. Faisal says:

    Sh*t, how am i gonna share it with my czech friends? and i guess the poor guy who did this must be in hot waters!

  4. HAHA says:

    WOW WHY ARE ALL TALKING AND THINKING WELL EVERY ONE KNOWS THAT OUR TOP IS TECHNICALLY THE BOTTOME OF THE COUNTRY, ALL VERY VERY LITERATE AND WELL YOU KNOW IT ALL

  5. mahi says:

    [quote comment=”46881″][quote post=”699″] “We Pray for the Czech Progress and Prosperityâ€

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