Twenty-one members of the Pipes and Drums of Christchurch City were last month flown to Libya, along with 39 other pipers and drummers from around New Zealand, to perform at celebrations marking Gaddafi's 40 years in power.
But the group found themselves at the centre of international controversy after the Scottish Government about the same time released terminally ill Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi.
Al-Megrahi was serving a life sentence for the deaths of 270 people in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
The Daily Mail newspaper interviewed people from the town of Lockerbie about the New Zealanders' presence in Libya.
Pipe major Robin Loomes said he was disgusted by the residents' comments.
"The context these questions were asked in was disgusting," he told The Press.
The Daily Mail failed to report that the military tattoo had been organised in September 2008 and that the group was one of 17 bands invited to play at the celebrations, he said.
Reports the band was "flown in from New Zealand at a cost of £200,000 to play a pointed part in the commemorations" were "a total fabrication".
Mr Loomes said the New Zealanders had been unfairly singled out.
"The terms of the contract were that the tattoo was supposed to be totally apolitical," he said.
