Sri Lanka Deputy High Commissioner is economical with the truth To return or not to return? 21 October 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/to-return-or-not-to-return/article4017359.

ece 1. Tamil has attained the status of official language on a par with Sinhala: It is on paper only not in practice: ''The facilities for communicating with the central government in obtaining its services in Tamil are minimal. This situation amounts to a violation of constitutional rights of the Tamil speaking citizens of the country. Apart from the indignities they are made to suffer, they are put into innumerable inconveniences in transacting business with the government. The provincial administration including that of the North East miserably fail in serving citizens inhabiting those areas who are not proficient in the language of the administration of the respective province in their own language which has Official Language status' - Reflections on Issues of Language in Sri Lanka: Power, Exclusion and Inclusion, Prof Sasanka Perera, http://groundviews.org/2011/10/24/reflections-on-issues-oflanguage-in-sri-lanka-power-exclusion-and-inclusion/ 2. The military presence in North has been drastically reduced: Any visitor to the area is stunned by the sheer size of militarisation: More than three years after winning the war against the LTTE, the Sri Lankan Army retains an overwhelming presence in the North and East of the island, deploying 16 out of its 19 divisions in the Tamil-dominated regions. The information, from an internal Sri Lankan military document showing the deployment in a series of maps for a PowerPoint presentation, is for the month of June 2012, but there have been no significant changes since then - Sri Lankan Army still has vast presence in North & East, 19 September 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/news/article3915391.ece 3. While the Eastern Province is being rebuilt through a mega-development programme, Kilakkin Udhayam another programme Vadakkin Vasantham bringing in development to the Northern Province The political strategy behind these two development projects was not concealed from the outset, given that the government authorities have interpreted them as a part of their larger projects of integrating ethnic minorities into the state and development. Against the background of the end of thirty years of ethnic civil war, the current regime is compelled to win over minority peoples active or passive consent towards the state. In this sense, development is not only about peoples economic well being but also about political consolidation of state power - Uthuru Wasanthaya And Negenahira Navodaya: Analyzing The Development Discourse, Sumith Chaaminda, 24 March 2012, http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/uthuru-wasanthaya-and-negenahira-navodayaanalyzing-the-development-discourse/ 4. The Deputy High Commission also screened a film on rehabilitation and reconstruction going on in the country with the help of the army, seeking to reassure the refugees that situation had become normal for them to return. The film included a scene in which army personnel offer worship at a well-decorated temple:

Most of the construction have been war memorials and army quarters. Showing a temple where army personnel offer worship is to puff up the people and to trick them into leaving a place in India where they are gaining educational qualifications. They refrain from showing the people how they are filling up Northeast Sri Lanka with Buddha statues.: 28 Buddha statues erected along A-9 Highway since war ended in May 2009, Imaad Majeed, 19 February 2012, http://transcurrents.com/news-views/archives/8355#more-8355 5. Sri Lankan government charges Rs 25,000 for issuing birth certificates from refugees who have crossed 18 years of age: Please compare this with: Though they were getting the birth certificates by visiting our office in Chennai, they have to bear travelling expenses. Hence, we are providing these services near their camps, said Mr. Krishnamoorthy. They come free. Otherwise, they will have to pay Rs.3,770 per person, he said Sri Lankan government issues birth certificates to Tamil Refugees in Tamil Nadu, 5 December 2010, http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/12/05/sri-lankan-government-issues-birth-certificatestamil-refugees-tamil-nadu