Whilst calls for the Sri Lankan military to vacate their military bases in the North-East continue, the army held a talent show at its military base in Palaly last month, the site of a massive High Security Zone which remains inaccessible to locals and landowners, nine years after the end of the war.
The Security Force Headquarters in Jaffna, situated inside the cordoned off High Security Zone, was the venue for the musical show with more than 6,000 soldiers present. Troops who participated were awarded cheques of up to Rs. 100,000 as cash prizes.
The area remains off limits to locals, who remain in displacement camps, almost three decades after their displacement.