“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.
“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 spokesperson Nadeem Hotiana told The Post.
Further, in regard to the portrayal of Pakistan being undemocratic, 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.
Hotiana, according to The New York Post, said he wished the producers would have “spent more time getting their facts right,” and added, “A little research would have gone a long way.”
A source also said that “Homeland makes it seem [as though] Pakistan has contempt for Americans and its values and principles. That is not true.”
Diplomats were also annoyed with the misrepresentation of the capital, Islamabad, being displayed as a “grimy hellhole and war zone where shootouts and bombs go off with dead bodies scattered around. Nothing is further from the truth,” a source said.
In truth, “Islamabad is a quiet, picturesque city with beautiful mountains and lush greenery,” the source added.
Diplomats complained to the producers of the hit TV show, but to no avail.
They also spoke out against the misrepresentation of Urdu in the show, saying “the [Urdu] accent is far from the local accent”.
“And the connotations of some of the Urdu words that are used are out of place.”
COMMENTS (70)
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apart from the subject and all these comments. i must say that worst thing was they showed rickshaws in islamabad. :P :P
@Javed: Not only did the media show the news prominently, there was a wide range of discussion on the issue. I, sitting in Chennai, watched it. Get your facts right. Media here, unlike in Pakistan, is independent.
maybe pak govt should take tv show producers to COURT and SUE them for INJURY... irreparable damage to trade and investment of pakistani country due to infactual things said
@Zahid Ameen: @Javed: @Bewildered: Why are you dragging India into it. Can you not defend Pakistan without bringing India into it?
@Javed: "a murderer of 4000 Indians is their ruling PM" Somehow, the official figure of 1044 keeps increasing ... perhaps u know more than the investigating agencies ...
And what are you otherwise anyway?
I've heard worse.
@Mohammad: You somehow neglected to say just when and where "Pakistani Army bailed out american troops"????! Please tell us!
I already put this in my reviews on Netflix. A director should not twist the facts. Similarly Pakistan Army's role was twisted in Black Hawk Down where it was only Pakistan Army who bailed out American Troops but it was not admit by the director.
These kind of mistakes will eventually discredit for the coming generations, as no facts can be hidden for a longer period.
freedom of expression hy, poeple love the show here too we dont care about our already hellhole country image what worse can it get
Homeland Season 4 is based entirely on the subject of our capital city, our single most potent intelligence agency and Pak army (war on terror). Personally, I would have lashed out at the diplomats if they HADN'T reacted to such a popular tv show going all wrong about our city. If one person can stand in front of a camera and tell us what they think they know about our city, why cant we take up another media front and tell them how terribly mistaken they are. After season 3, I would have been less disappointed to see them change the genre from geopolitics to comedy than to stoop so low for TRP.
I think the authorities need to be more proactive, effective and vocal about such things. How about a law suit, the Proper way. Thumbs up at least they raised some concern. Such instances have repeated in past like i would like to recall G.I Joe 2 that made me both upset and angry. Its high time to do something about it.
@goldconsumer:
"on the contrary.. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/pakistan/9100507/Are-we-wrong-about-Pakistan.html"
Thank you for the link. Would like salt on wounds for the Indian haters.
Now, you folks know what Pakistani embassy staff is doing during normal business hours.
This is the place where 140 lovely children get massacred by people who were trained and armed by the very agencies who were supposed to protect Pakistan. This is the same place where politicians want to negotiate with these demons instead of taking them on. What else would you call such a nation? I think the tv show producers showed restraint.
So you embrace Western Democratic Principles. So tell me which western state is it that lets honour murderers get off basically free?
@Zaheer Ahmed: Curious that I can only find around 400 killed in Chicago this year!! Please tell us where you dreamed up that 2,500 killed statistic!
What does the govt. intent to do with such statements..the North Koreans couldn't stop the Interview being released, which is many times more insulting then the Homeland S4...
The truth hurts, lets admit it...
When the moral compass breaks, a nation has no future.
We as a nation are so obsessed with what other people 'think' about us, wether right or wrong. Get over yourselves people, nobody gives a damn about you.
From the New York Post article.
Hard at work....binge watching TV.
There is no other answer to negative propaganda but only propaganda. The supporters and creators of terrorism calling others is just lies and propaganda so that the world does not question the support terrorists are getting by USA, Israel & India.
Even CIA has admitted it so many times.
Its sad to see that emotional Pakistanis don't ever look this in global perspective.
Please read Noam Chomsky's "Media Control" and everyone will realize the reality of Media. Please ET publish.
A source also said that “Homeland makes it seem [as though] Pakistan has contempt for Americans and its values and principles. That is not true. . Anyone who reads comments posted on ET must get a laugh out of that statement. Further - when was the last time you heard a positive comment about America made by any leader in Pakistan?
I have watched the series and i can tell whats true and whats not.
Homeland portrayal of Islamabad is absolutely inaccurate & shows it as a busy, tight & rough place whereas in reality it is an open, beautiful and a scenic place.
The Urdu accent is absolutely rubbish except for the accent of the Pakistani actress in it who plays the role of an ISI agent. Some urdu doesn't even make sense
The distrust and mess associated with ISI is true and relates to reality.
Islamabad is also shown to be a very violent place. While it is true that violence is common in Islamabad & in Pakistan in general, the series somewhat over does it!
Americans have distorted image of Pakistan. Many well placed Americans in think tanks, universities and journalism have portrayed Pakistan as a source of terrorism. Bruce Riedel, Cristine Fair et al have worked hard to portray Pakistan in negative light. TTP's mindless violence and Pakistan's procrastination in punishing the terrorists of Mumbai attack and Osama bin Laden hiding in Abbotabad have seriously associated Pakistan as sponsor of terrorism. If this government can eradicate terrorism, curb hate sermons in mosques and fix school curriculum to avoid trashing other religions, protect the rights of minorities, it can change the image of the country. Hollywood has always picked on certain groups, used to be blacks but Arabs and Muslims now, to portray in bad light. Conversely they always show America as embodiment of virtue doing good for the world, all its wars notwithstanding. Don't expect Hollywood to embrace truth.
Pakistan is not ungoverned at all. Proof is that even a goat thief or traffic light violator is perused and caught. But it is to a shameful extent intentionally misgoverned to serve specific purposes. Proof is that killers of leaders and innocent children are never caught in real. Specific purposes include but not limited to Talibanisation to serve local and foreign interests and now playing hide and seek with them.
Did the diplomat forget that before even Homeland series begins it claims it is only also a dramatization. Secondly, this series is intended for American viewers who are far more educated and literate enough and will probably not fall into the trap of believing everything what is showed in the series. American & Western viewers can make better decisions in this regard.
In Pakistan the truth can be distorted in a hundred ways, but outsiders can look through us and clearly see the nightmarish self-destructive society we have created for ourselves which is inexorably leading the country to its destruction.
Anyone not them is a bad guy, its what their media feeds them 24/7 while public doesn't know the very basic knowledge about the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0RH0cYs4lw
Can't leave to hate Pakistan.
Whatever US media make story the truth is that Pakistan is in real problem due to US only. The day Pakistan will start acting like Venezuela, North Korea, China etc. Pakistan will come out of all its US created problems, but the real problem is that our leaders can't leave to bow before US, instead of Al-Mighty Allah.
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 . Why is that absurd? Pakistan is infamous for using "strategic assets" to further it's foreign policy objectives and it's obvious to most that policy has contributed to civilian casualties and a poor international image. Whether its OBL, Haqqani, Saeed, or the Quetta Shura it's hard to deny that your intelligence agencies were either complicit or clueless (maybe both).
@Sadaf Raza:
Agree, but such shows and movies often fed wrong perceptions about other cultures and regions into minds of their audience especially when it comes to Western nations such as USA, Australia, UK and Canada. Knowledge of an average (Caucasian) American about other countries, faiths, race etc....is so weak that they can believe anything. And based on that they usually buy whatever their mainstream media and government tell them in order to launch their wars in other nations.
Bollywood also made many movies with the tone of Pak-bashing but later on they died out, albeit there might be a section of Indians who might believe that Bollywood was showing a true picture and American shows must consult Indian actors and producers after the recent season of Homeland for better stories.
If people of the ilk OBL or D company are found relaxing in the country and some nations are paying billions of dollars thinking these are being hunted well why blame them!
Only a fool will accept the description of beautiful Islamabad as shown in 'homeland' as truthful.
I have not watched it but after reading this article it seems it must have depicted Pakistan with the same exaggeration as Hollywood movies showed World War 2 and Cold War era.
I liked the old NY Times description better: "half as large as a new york cemetery and twice as dead" Looks like its realky hopping now like fergussen.
I would not take this issue very seriously, US film (Hollywood) and TV industries are controlled by certain religious people who are famous being very clannish and cunning and if I say it openly then immediately I will be tagged as anti-Semitic, this is common knowledge among the educated Americans. They have been doing it for decades. If one is curious then look up the famous actor Marlon Brando who openly criticized the control of these people of Hollywood. This is the way it is in the US. Beside US is a free country to some extent and people like fantasies and of course TV dramas and movies are mostly fantasies. Remember the movie "Interview", if North Korean would have made no fuss about the movie, not many people would have opted to see it, it is a third rate movie and most likely would have flopped, now it is a different story. If Pakistanis would have ignored it which they should have, no one takes this type of dramas too seriously, they come and go but now making an issue brings it to the lime light. I wish we should ignore these petty happenings and pay more attention to other important real things in Pakistan.
I remember an old series where Indians and soviets were shown as evil partners from the 1980's. The Indian government did not react at the time. The pak embassy seems to be totally free from performing their duties and ramble over a piece of fiction. What about giving legal counseling to imprisoned Pakistanis and diplomatic duties. Strange. Rab rakha
Recently 74 indians got killed in Assam by rebels and Indian media didn't even show this news, RSS announced mass-conversions of thousands Indian Muslims into Hindus, a murderer of 4000 Indians is their ruling PM... the list is very long! And yet these pathetic Indian trolls here tell us that "truth hurts"? Go put your own house in order first, pathetic trolls!
Media in Pakistan is not only immature it has got no values and code of ethics either. It is a reality that conspiracy theories are presented as news on this media, where talk shows are nothing but wastage of valuable time as most of the hour is evaporated either in commercials or war-of-the-words between the participants requesting the others to let him or her speak. The icing on the cake is so-called Anchor, who consider himself or herself to be the righteous person as well as saviour of the nation. How unfortunate! Today, media is used to create perceptions and opinion. Our immaturity of our media is not helping Pakistan improving its image or perception in the eyes of other members of the international community. If this is to be improved, then the Media is required to become cognizant of its duty and obligations and bring positivity instead of promoting negativism 365/24/7. How this can be achieved, however, is an entirely different story!
Rather than being "angered", could they instead do something that requires real work.
Could they not promote tourism in Pakistan instead to counter such a negative image? How about placing an ad during the show that featured the sights and sounds of Pakistan?
Or, is PTDC now defunct or bankrupt?
Or are the use of funds not justifiable because tourists don't want to visit in the first place, because of all the law and order issues and perceived hostility and antagonism of the locals?
Why not fix the real problem i.e. the extremism that spares not even small kids?
Or, is that all just too much to do as opposed to expressing anger. Or, for the official: "that's not my job." Then, what is your job, sir? 'Cause you clearly are not being paid enough to do it...
Last episode season 4 shows that Haqqani is no more in the kill list since he agreed to stop his operation in Afghanistan. That show CIA will be using him against Pakistan even though he killed 38 US people in the embassy. What they show is fiction!
This is typical of Hollywood, controlled by Zionists. Don't expect anything good from them. I don't watch this garbage anyways. Don't waste your time.
Well pakistan shld pay more attention to its own media n specially morning shows, rather than criticizing other ppl s "fiction" work n on the other hand this so called fiction work has much of reality in it, n wen dollar s on both side n martyrdom s driving force on both side then killing of 140 innocent children or 50 000 ppl s nota big deal
Hi Truth has been told. You can ask even from kid that come out of Islamabad than Pakistan start. How u can hide truth from american? Have u forgot afgan jihad? Where american dumped $$$ in Pakistan to promote "jahad". Have u forgot perviz musharf book. For just $5000 we sell same jahadis to Americans? Have u forgot 50000 Pakistani people and army personal killed so far? Have u forgot rah e najaat and rah e rasaat operation? Have u forget "do more" ? Have u forgot arrangent of nawqz Shareef and benazir wto come bak to Pakistan with help of codeliza rice? Sorry folks, you cannot hide truth from ur master (USA).
Pakistan is a hellhole for millions of its inhabitants.
Pakistan is without a shadow of doubt perceived as a militarised State, its diplomats abroad are usualy the cronies of the ruling Government and its media has remained quite on the civilian casualties, most probably because of having no access in the war zone, resulting from the military operations in various parts of the country. The reintroduction of capital punishment by the incumbent Prime Minster shows that its moratorium was not carried out because of conviction but was a political ploy.
Rex Minor
Ghost of the past is hunting now. deep inside if you look to our country, it will look like the same as depicted. is not that for 12 yrs our military let to die 50,000 plus of their own people by not taking any action. US, UAE, UK , S.A etc all were allowed to use our homeland for there turf war. Thanks to terrorist they did not killed each & every Pakistani because no body could stop them if they want. yes i know some would say army is now doing it but my answer will be where hey were before ? sleeping.
I wish they could dedicate one episode to Chicago where more than 2,500 people have been killed on the street in this year.
Pakistan is not ungoverned at all. Proof is that even a goat thief or traffic light violator is perused and caught. But it is to a shameless extent intentionally misgoverned to serve specific purposes. Proof is that killers of leaders and innocent children are never caught in real. Specific purposes include but not limited to Talibanisation to serve local and foreign interests and now playing hide and seek with them.
on the contrary..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/pakistan/9100507/Are-we-wrong-about-Pakistan.html
@Prada:
"Truth always hurts"
So whatever Akaar Patel says about Modi, BJP, and India must also be true because that hurts Indians the most. Some ask him to leave India, while the others call him Akaar Ahmed or even some kind of nutcase.
Well after all this Peshawar Massacre and the resulting awakening all this fiction seems real where our short sighted generals have sacrificed the civilian lives for a strategic depth.
@Parvez: He has already applied for Green Card.
another example of how effectively different forms of media are used to spread a certain belief...Pakistani media need to learn how to use this tool effectively in favor of Pakistan not against it! No wonder some of our media houses have foreign fundings...
How stupid can you get. If the Zionist occupiers of the native America want to do that it is their business.We must not pander to these morons otherwise they will totally strip you. There can absolutely no justification to complain about or complain to - let the tourist who come speak about their experiences - that is enough.
first series of homeland was gripping and interesting, 2nd series was okeish but the current series is so boring and badly directed scripted, i didn't watch the first episode after 20 minutes. the way Pakistan has been portrayed in this series is childish, i am not going in to the details of actual condition on the ground but even the minor things like, dress code, they way people talk, environment in universities etc, its extremely badly planned and executed series, it seems all the producers/directors have been fed is that the country is complete mess and everyone is terrorist!!! should be banned in Pakistan, i would be happy with that.
Recent protest held by a political party that lasted for almost 4 months, and the one which is being staged outside Lal Masjid after Abdul Rasheed's denial to condemn the Peshawar Massacre, prove that nation has started to come out for what it truly believes in.
In such scenario, when citizens of Pakistan are changing, nation is actually getting inspired from Western democracies, it has started to ask for for accountability of the rulers, it has started questioning the leaders no matter of which party, has started to rebel against the norms and awareness has started to spread, remarks like soul searching needs to be done, and truth hurts - kind of feel like so called realists' pessimistic opinions.
Homeland director should have done more research, Islamabad may have been facing quite a lot but it is certainly not a hellhole. At least police isn't killing people because a coloured person was walking with a fake gun, at least people are not being killed by authorities because a black community was staging a protest, at least extremist groups are not prudly claiming to have forcefully converted Christians and Muslims.
If you think it is just Pakistan, you need to look around in South Asia.
APS Peshawar, 134 children murdered in daylight, more than 50,000 dead, this is the real world, Homeland is "fictional" representation. If you do not like it, change channels. One North Korea is more than enough, dont need another one!
Entirely premature description.
Pakistan would do well to fix major problems destroying the country rather than be concerned with the depiction in a TV series. If we think that TV programs like Homeland are creating a bad image for Pakistan then we are doomed - the recent events in Peshawar and in Gujranwala a case in point.
It would be a more meaningful protest if it weren't chock full of lies and half-truths such as "“Pakistanis never embraced the dictators...", "Our culture embraces Western society..." etc.
After reading this report I strongly feel like a North Korean because Pakistan and North Korea are perhaps the only countries who respond to work of fiction which might purely have a literary or entertainment value only.
It's because of such officials we are caught up in such a mess. Peshawar massacre was a fiction.Mullah aziz is not a terrorist but doing comedy in capital Islamabad.Amer liaqat is only a stuntman playing fatwa games with colleagues our soldiers are killed in friendly fire....don't know why this world is so blind.
Add some details about how homeland depicted the country? Details about the scenes? Cause I have not watched the episodes.
So the first time I hear an embassy official talk about something! its about a freaking TV show instead of addressing the zillion problems Pakistanis face abroad. Seriously any embassy officials reading this comment, get your act together and address genuine concerns of Pakistanis living abroad such as long queues, unfriendly staff, no sitting arrangements, no body on 24 hour call, no legal help. You guys are basically paid to do nothing.
May be our Pakistani D.C embassy official has not visited his homeland ....recently.
Truth always hurts.