Pakistani officials are apparently furious over the negative portrayal the TV show Homeland made of their country, the New York Post reported.
"Maligning a country that has been a close partner and ally of the US . . . is a disservice not only to the security interests of the US but also to the people of the US," Pakistan Embassy spokesman Nadeem Hotiana told The Post.
The diplomats saw all 12 episodes of Homeland and cried outrage that Homeland made Pakistan look like a "grimy hellhole," and said that more research about their country would have helped given a more honest portrayal.
"Islamabad is a quiet, picturesque city with beautiful mountains and lush greenery," one source said. "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 actually shot their "Islamabad" scenes in Cape Town, South Africa.
Another complaint the diplomats had was with the misinterpretation of their language. "The Pakistani characters portrayed in the show speak English like Americans would," a source said. "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."
However, what upset them most was how the show made Pakistan look undemocratic and chummy 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," a source said.
"Our culture embraces Western society. Pakistan believes in the democratic system of voting in our presidents."