Valleys and Valour

  THIRD ANNUAL WREATH LAYING BY IPKF VETERANS ON 29 th OF JULY 2023 AT THE NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL TO COMMEMORATE SUPREME SACRIFICES DURING OPERATION PAWAN   ‘ Only a warrior following the call of his Karma and at peace with his destiny, would fight hard and die well, even in a foreign land he knows nothing about !’ – Col RS Sidhu, an IPKF veteran   In the face of official apathy to publicly honour the legacy of the soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in Operation Pawan, the IPKF veterans have undertaken this onerous task unto themselves. The veterans of the IPKF privately commemorated the supreme sacrifices during Operation Pawan, at the National War Memorial (NWM), New Delhi on 29 th of July 2023. The honours for wreath laying this year were vested with Smt Kamlesh, Vir Nari, w/o Late L/Nk Rajbir Singh, VrC, 5 Raj Rif KIA in Operation Pawan, Maj Gen R Bhalla, ex GOC 54 Inf Div in Operation Pawan, Col RS Sidhu, IPKF Veteran, and Capt Raii, on behalf of Commanding Officer & All

  PROGNOSIS AND CONTEMPORARY REVELANCE OF OPERATION PAWAN   “ To achieve its economic targets India needs a harmonious domestic environment conducive to enterprise, a peaceful geopolitical milieu in its near abroad that is favourable to trade and infrastructure security, and an augmented military potential to protect its enhanced trade and economic infrastructure in the emerging markets .” – Col RS Sidhu   Backdrop An India Sri Lanka Agreement (ISLA) was signed, thirty six years to date, on 29 th of July 1987 to bring peace to the island nation in the throes of a violent insurgency having its roots in the ethnic discord between the majority Sinhala and minority Tamil communities. Consequent to the signing of the ISLA, India had deployed an Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in the Tamil predominant Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, at the ostensible invitation of Sri Lanka Government (SLG). This was codenamed Operation Pawan. Shorn of manipulated political and pa