On Monday, March 24, 2025, war veterans of the Indian 'Peace-Keeping' Force (IPKF) codenamed Op Pawan gathered at the National War Memorial (NWM) for their 'private' fifth annual commemoration. Not many countrymen would relate to this day or the events that preceded. It was on this day in 1990 that the last contingent of the IPKP sailed out of Sri Lanka on the orders of the new Prime Minister V.P. Singh.

A Forgotten War

The gathering is private because for reasons best known to the power that be, and despite a change in the governing party since 2014, there is no annual homage at the NWM to honour the supreme sacrifice made by 1,171 soldiers and officers 'killed in action' during the 32-months-long operation. No wreaths are laid and no official functions mark the day. No operational medal has been instituted by the government to recognise Op Pawan. The state remains in denial as if such an operation never happened.

The truth is that Op Pawan as a military mission, was a great success considering the botched mandate on the basis of which it was launched

For those who fought and lost life and limbs, the failure of their countrymen to recognise their valour, courage and sacrifice is utterly humiliating. It appears as if some rogue army went out on a self-determined mission and returned a failure. The truth is that Op Pawan as a military mission, was a great success considering the botched mandate on the basis of which it was launched. Deployed on the hasty orders of the then young and energetic but exceptionally inexperienced Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the IPKF operations swiftly tuned out to be anything but peace-keeping.

IPKF in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983 between the minority Tamil population and the majority Sinhalese. The LTTE (also known as Tamil Tigers) had emerged as a leading rebel faction with an aim to carve a Tamil homeland in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Their clashes with the Sri Lankan military led to high civilian casualties from both the Sinhalese and Tamil population. India intervened in the civil war through diplomatic and military means. Following lengthy negotiations, the Sri-Lankan Accords were signed in Colombo on July 29, 1987 leading to the deployment of the IPKF. The Sri Lankan Civil War would only end on May 18, 2009 with the killing of LTTE Supremo Prabhakaran and surrender of the Tamil Tigers to the government forces.

Thousands of soldiers and officers who fought harrowing battles in the Sri Lankan jungle overcame post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with great personal determination and grit, fighting the demons within

Personally, I missed out on the deployment. Then a young Lieutenant in an artillery regiment in Coimbatore, we were the first few units on standby as diplomatic negotiations to end the raging civil war began. We were strategically located for immediate deployment as the airhead for induction was the Sulur Air Force base nearby. But as negotiations dragged on, I moved to the Air Force Academy to commence my flying training. My regiment eventually got inducted in July 1987 and fought pitched battles in the jungles of Vauniya wherein three jawans made the supreme sacrifice.

Scars of War

Many years later, on a golf course nestled in the verdant tea estates of Dooaras in West Bengal, I had watched a fellow officer calculate his tee off shot with intensity as he took in the lay of the dog-leg fairway. As he took a practice swing, he almost fell, numbed by the leg that he did not have. As we walked after the tee shot, I had asked how long it has been that way, coping without a leg. With a distant look, he had said, well, about three decades. In 1988, a few months shy of his 23rd birthday, as a young Lieutenant, he was ripped apart by a grenade lobbed at him while leading an ambush in Op Pawan. He had surprised the LTTE sheltered in a hideout tucked inside a false roof in a hutment and they surprised him with the ferocity of their response.

Post withdrawal of Indian troops, Sri Lanka slipped into the Chinese orbit as the latter pumped supplies of arms and ammunition for the Sri Lankan army battling the deadly insurgency

Since then, the officer had moved on in life, switching from Infantry to a more sedentary 'Service' Corps in the Army. He married his sweetheart despite stiff opposition from her parents (which parents want their daughter to be married off to a man without a leg?). The officer rose to the senior rank of a Brigadier apart from becoming an avid golfer. The trauma of the battlefield had been overcome with sheer grit and determination.

This wasn't a one-off case. Thousands of soldiers and officers who fought harrowing battles in the Sri Lankan jungle overcame post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with great personal determination and grit, fighting the demons within. The discipline of army forced them to remain quiet and anonymous, their tales of bravery rarely acknowledged by the army as well as the government. But as the years passed by, many of their fellow war veterans have left for their heavenly abode, their valiant exploits never acknowledged. So they decided to commemorate March 24 in memory of their fellow veterans at the NWM every year, privately and silently.

Geopolitical Implications

Many factors may have contributed to this deplorable situation, including Tamil sensitivities and geopolitics. Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 by LTTE terrorist further queered the pitch. Post withdrawal of Indian troops, Sri Lanka slipped into the Chinese orbit as the later pumped supplies of arms and ammunition for the Sri Lankan army battling the deadly insurgency. China leveraged the bonhomie to grab numerous infrastructural projects including the Hambantota port and the Mattala Rajapaksa International airport, nicknamed the 'Emptiest Airport in the World'. Eventually it faced bankruptcy in 2022 due to Chinese debt trap aggravated by disruption in tourism due to COVID pandemic.

India has an abiding familial relationship with Sri Lanka from the Ramayan days. Let's hope that those sacred ancestral connections are re-energised soonest.

The Indian government played the good neighbour to perfection, assisting with over $4 billion in order to ride out of the crisis. But a Leftists Presidency under Anura Dissanayake makes mending relations that much challenging. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on April 5 to finalise agreements made during President Dissanayake's visit to Delhi last year.

Re-booting of Relations

India has an abiding familial relationship with Sri Lanka from the Ramayan days. Later the mercantile kingdom of Kalinga on India's eastern seaboard developed a deep and enduring connection with Sri Lanka. The Kingdom was founded by a prince from Kalinga named Vijaya, son of King Sinhabahu. Marital relations between the two kingdoms continued at least till the thirteenth century. Let's hope that those sacred ancestral connections are re-energised soonest and Indo-Sri Lankan relations return to its rightful glory. A legacy needs resurrection as do our relations.