Pakistani diplomats have binge-watched the fourth season of Showtime's hit drama "Homeland," and are furious at how the the show makes their homeland's capital look like a "grimy hellhole and war zone" and how it portrays a Democratic country that is an ally of the United States.
"Maligning a country that has been a close partner and ally of the U.S. … is a disservice not only to the security interests of the U.S. but also to the people of the U.S.,"
Pakistan Embassy spokesman Nadeem Hotiana told The New York Post. "A little research would have gone a long way."
The diplomats took notes while they watched all 12 episodes of the CIA drama and complained to the producers of the show, which stars Claire Danes as an agent on assignment in Pakistan, but sources said they got no response.
One of their complaints was that the nation's capital, Islamabad, was portrayed as a barren, crime-filled city, saying that the city is actually a "quiet, picturesque city with beautiful mountains and lush greenery," an unnamed source told The Post. "In ‘Homeland,’ it’s portrayed as a grimy hellhole and war zone where shootouts and bombs go off with dead bodies scattered around. Nothing is further from the truth."
The show's tense Pakistan scenes were not actually filmed in Islamabad, but instead in Cape Town, South Africa.
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The show also misrepresents the Pakistani language, the diplomats complained.
"The Pakistani characters portrayed in the show speak English like Americans would," the source told The Post. "Also, when the characters in the show speak Urdu, the accent is far from the local accent, and the connotations of some of the Urdu words that are used are out of place."
But aside from the language and scenery issues, the diplomats' major complaint was that the show portrays their country as being undemocratic and that it has alliances with terrorists.
"Repeated insinuations that an intelligence agency of Pakistan is complicit in protecting the terrorists at the expense of innocent Pakistani civilians is not only absurd but also an insult to the ultimate sacrifices of the thousands of Pakistani security personnel in the war against terrorism," the source said. "Our culture embraces Western society. Pakistan believes in the democratic system of voting in our presidents."
Further, Pakistanis never embraced their dictators of the past, the source said, and "Homeland" "makes it seem that Pakistan has contempt for Americans and its values and principles. That is not true."
Showtime did not respond to The Post for comment. "Homeland" wrapped up its fourth season last Sunday.
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