Pakistan raps ‘Homeland’ for depiction of Islamabad

Pakistani officials condemned the depiction of their country on the American hit TV show “Homeland” over the weekend, arguing that it was portrayed as a “grimy hellhole” and a haven for terrorists.

Diplomats complained that the series, based on the Israeli show “Hatufim,” misrepresented Pakistan’s landscape (the last season was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa), language, and democratic character.

“Islamabad is a quiet, picturesque city with beautiful mountains and lush greenery,” an unnamed source told the New York Post on Saturday. “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.”

Other officials took issue with plot lines that showed Pakistani authorities harboring 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,” an official said.

The official said Pakistan was committed to democratic values. “‘Homeland’ makes it seem that Pakistan has contempt for Americans and its values and principles. That is not true,” the official said.

Pakistan Embassy in US spokesman Nadeem Hotiana said a “little research would have gone a long way” to avoid the misrepresentation.

“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,” he said.

An anonymous diplomat chimed in to nitpick the accents of the Pakistani characters on the show.

“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.”

The Pakistani officials said they had complained to the producers of the TV show, but received no response.

Last week, the TV show irked some Israelis, after it compared its character Haissam Haqqani, a terrorist, to former prime minister Menachem Begin.

In the season finale, CIA operative Dar Adal defends a decision to remove Haqqani from the US terrorist list, saying: “Menachem Begin killed 91 British soldiers at the King David Hotel before becoming prime minister,” in reference to the 1946 bombing carried out by the Irgun in which 91 people — including 41 Arabs and 17 Jews — were killed.

In response, Herzl Makov, the director of the Begin Heritage Center, said he was “shocked and dismayed” by the comparison, according to Channel 2.

“It is especially painful due to the fact that ‘Homeland’ is based on the Israeli show ‘Hatufim,'” he said.