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After it came out that bin Laden had been living in Abbottabad and that the military failed to detect the American raiding party coming to get him, the once-revered Pakistan army found itself on the defensive. The film also highlights the cooperation between the C.I.A. and Pakistan's intelligence agency during the early years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States, a potentially embarrassing topic in a country with such vehement anti-American sentiment. Jamshed Zafar, one of the leading importers and distributors of foreign films in Pakistan, said he decided after discussions with friends that it wasn't worth importing "Zero Dark Thirty." "If you get into such controversy, you not only lose money but your reputation is also at stake," he said. Any distributor or movie house that showed the movie might also be courting trouble with the public. Last year during demonstrations against an anti-Islam film crowds of right-wing Islamic hardliners burned some movie houses. The fact that neighboring India -- Pakistan's archenemy -- substituted for many of the Pakistani street scenes has also raised concerns, said Rashid Khawaja, a Lahore-based film producer and distributor. Until recently it was possible to purchase a DVD of the film in Islamabad. But at least two stores in the capital said in recent days that they stopped selling it because of rumors it had been banned. Another store was still selling the movie
-- albeit under the counter. In Abbottabad, the DVD is available at local video stores but hasn't sold particularly well. "This movie is about Osama and Abbottabad, and still I honestly say people living here are not showing much interest in it," said Akhtar Hussain. Even in the city where people could hear the Navy SEALs as they swooped in on helicopters and flew away with bin Laden's body, there's still disbelief he was living so close. College student Raheel Ahmed said he watched "Zero Dark Thirty" and came away thinking the movie's intent was to praise President Barack Obama. "I don't know whether Osama was here," he said, "but Americans have defamed us by producing the movie."
[Associated
Press;
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