BAGHDAD: In the commercial, the family is nearing the end of their journey home from exile. One child excitedly says she is surprised to see the streets filled with people. The other begs for a trip to the amusement park.

Arriving home, the father removes the padlock and they walk inside. “Thanks be to God that we returned to our people and country,” he says.

The message of the commercial aired on state television is clear: The Shia-dominated government has stemmed violence, refugees are returning home and more should follow.

Baghdad’s improved security has largely been due to developments beyond Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s control. But his government is relentlessly seeking to take credit and lure back the 2 million Iraqis who have left since 2003.

And the media blitz calls to mind a time when state television was primarily used to burnish the image of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

“Iraqi television paints a picture of a government that solved all the problems of Iraq because a small number of refugees returned,” said Ibrahim Karim, a 43-year-old civil servant.

Since a joint US-Iraqi security plan began nearly 10 months ago, many Sunni insurgent groups switched sides and joined the Americans in the fight against Al Qaeda militants.

But the US military warns that the Iraqi government is unprepared for an influx of refugees to Baghdad, and the chief UN humanitarian organisation fears the security gains are fragile.

There also are concerns that a mass return of refugees could fuel Shia-Sunni violence, as many of the refugees are likely to come back to homes taken over by members of the other sect.

Washington’s No. 2 diplomat said there was a danger of more violence if Iraq’s government fails to take advantage of the recent security gains.

“The government is in trouble and it needs to market some of the security related issues like the return of the refugees,” said Mohammed al-Sheikhli, chairman of Baghdad’s Center for Transitional Justice Studies.

The return of the refugees, however, had more to do with their difficulties living abroad than improved security in Iraq, he said.

Sunni Arab lawmaker Asmaa al-Dulaimi had similar views, saying Iraqis are returning now because their money has run out and Syria’s new visa restrictions make it harder to stay abroad and find work there.

The government is unruffled by the criticism. It offers returnees free transport from Syria to Iraq, provides protection to buses bringing them home and gives families $600 each to help with the expense of settling in back in their homes.

The focus on refugees returning has not been restricted to commercials, which end with the message “How sweet it is to return to Iraq.” Shows on state television, like the daily ‘Baghdad by Night’, air interviews with residents expressing gratitude for the improved security in the capital and urging friends and relatives to return home.

Other fixtures include recorded interviews with relieved returnees just off the bus and, to emphasise a return to normalcy, repeated broadcasts of a beauty pageant held at a social club in Baghdad.

Not all are pleased with state television’s new focus.

“The station focuses on the handful of beautified and lit streets and ignores the destroyed homes and damaged streets,” said Iman al-Shweili, a teacher. “The government is more preoccupied with drowning out the voice of critics than providing a better life for the people.”—AP