Operation Pawan: 1987

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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

In brief

India Today December 29, 2008

Political and diplomatic miscalculation that went into India signing the 1987 peace accord with Sri Lanka pitch-forked the 20,000-strong Indian Peace Keeping Force against the very LTTE it had trained to fight the Lankan forces.

“Operation Pawan is a chapter of Indian military history that will contain none of the honour and glory of a victorious campaign,” said India Today in 1987.

Remembering the operation

Surendra Singh, April 26, 2024: The Times of India

Veterans keep memory of a ‘forgotten’ mission alive

New Delhi : It had all the dignity and decorum that one associates with a military ceremony. Except, it was a ‘private’ function. A group of Indian army veterans and their families quietly gathered at the National War Memorial to lay wreaths in memory of the fallen soldiers of ‘Operation Pawan’, which India had launched in the late 1980s to save its neighbour Sri Lanka from disintegration.
To those who participated in the operation, it seems like it happened just yesterday. But almost four decades have gone by. To recap, in the late 1980s, Sri Lanka was in the throes of severe insurgencies that threatened its territorial integrity. The Rajiv Gandhi govt dispatched the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to bring stability and peace in Sri Lanka.


India lost 1,171 personnel, who were killed in action, while nearly 3,500 were wounded during Op Pawan that continued from 1987 to 1990. Nearly 100,000 troops from the tri-service were under the command of IPKF headquarters. Interestingly, the IPKF headquarters was India’s first joint operations military command and it set a precedent for future theatre commands, which the current Indian military leadership is now planning to set up.


The IPKF was awarded one Param Vir Chakra, one Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal, 98 Vir Chakra and over 250 other gallantry awards. Despite so many casualties and military honours, the apex military hierarchy termed Op Pawan a ‘minor’ operation. As a result, it does not get a formal commemoration day at the National War Memorial.


A few years ago, a group of Op Pawan veterans and their families decided that the sacrifices of those who laid down their lives during the mission would not go unremembered. Every year, they gather to pay homage to the bravehearts who fell while fighting for the cause of their nation in a foreign land.


The Sri Lanka govt has erected a magnificent War Memorial in Colombo to honour the supreme sacrifices made by the IPKF troops, where wreaths are laid twice a year.”


In 2024, the presence of 50 uniformed personnel from the Rajputana Rifles regiment and 50 NCC cadets, standing shoulder to shoulder with the proud veterans, added grace and colour to the solemn ‘private’ ceremony.