Recognition in sight

“Ho gaya!

- ADITI PHADNIS

Ho gaya,” exclaimed a jubilant veteran who'd had a tenure in the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka. This was on January 14, after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said ata felicitation of ex-servicemen: “Thedecision taken by the then government to send Indian forces to Sri Lanka isopento debate. I don’t wantto get into it. But Tbelieve the sacrifices made by our IPKF soldiers who participated in Operation Pawan should be respected.” This is the closest the Government ofIndiahasever come to recognising the IPKF as a bona fide expeditionary force and Operation Pawan as a major out-of-area military operation, if not an intervention, ina war against the Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eelam (LTTE), aterrorist group, in north and east Sri Lanka to end the ethnic conflict there (1987-90).In 2024, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan told IPKF veterans in Dehradun: “We have fought hundreds of operations; Operation Pawan was only a minor operation.” The National War Memorial has onlya passing reference to the IPKF even though 1,157 Indian soldiers were killed and more than 3,000 wounded to maintain thesov-ereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. Last year, on the 35th anniversary of the return of the IPKF from Sri Lanka, (March 24) 150 Operation Pawan veteransand their families gathered fora “silent felicitation” forabetween3and 4pm. “Silent” meant no Last Post and Rouse was played by buglers to honour the fa