'HOMELAND’ INSECURITY
Pakistan envoys rip ‘ugly’ TV portrayal
Pakistani diplomats are furious over the way their nation is portrayed in the Showtime spy drama “Homeland” starring Claire Danes (right), saying it makes their nation look filthy and in love with terrorists.
Claire Danes is lucky no Emmy voters live in Islamabad.
Pakistani officials are furious with Showtime after watching the fourth season of its hit show “Homeland,” which they say portrays their country as an ugly, ignorant, terrorplagued “hellhole.”
The diplomats took copious notes of every slight while bingewatching all 12 episodes — including the lack of greenery in the depiction of the nation’s capital, Islamabad.
They complained directly to producers of the Emmywinning drama, but their gripes fell on deaf ears, Pakistani sources said.
“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.
One of their beefs is that the show — which stars Danes as CIA agent Carrie Mathison on assignment in Pakistan — trashed a diplomat’s image of the capital as a bucolic oasis.
“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 cable show’s Islamabad scenes were actually filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.
Pakistani diplomats also called out the show’s producers for misrepresenting 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.”
The biggest gripe is that the show depicts Pakistan as undemocratic and allied 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. Pakistanis never embraced the dictators who, in the past, ruled the country because they took over the presidency through violent means,” the source added.
“‘Homeland’ makes it seem that Pakistan has contempt for Americans and its values and principles. That is not true.”
The series’ fourth season wrapped up last Sunday.
A publicist for the show referred The Post to Showtime representatives, who did not respond to requests for comment.
Hotiana said he just wished the producers had spent more time getting their facts straight.
“A little research would have gone a long way,” he said.