SRI LANKA. Oddusuddan. January, 2018. In an effort to win the hearts and minds of the local Tamil people, the Sinhalese Sri Lankan Army sponsored a Hindu Pongal celebration for the local Tamil population in the town of Oddusuddan, northern Sri Lanka. Due to the Sri Lankan Civil War the army has been on a constant mobilized (including reservist) state since the 1980s (except for a brief period from 2002–2005). The majority of the army continues to be deployed in the North and Eastern provinces of the country.
(Obligatory credit: “© Moises Saman/Magnum Photos with support from the Pulitzer Center”)