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Military Digest: Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, a forgotten contingent whose sacrifices need to be remembered

The book 'Resurrecting The IPKF Legacy' is an important milestone in the endeavour to bring the achievements and sacrifices of the IPKF to the fore

IPKF Indian armyThe book Resurrecting The IPKF Legacy is an important milestone in the endeavour to bring the achievements and sacrifices of IPKF to the fore.
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Military Digest: Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, a forgotten contingent whose sacrifices need to be remembered
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The Forgotten Army is a sobriquet often used for those bodies of troops whose valiant actions in battles are less remembered than others. It has been used varyingly for many armies, be it the 14th Army in Burma, the troops who fought in East Africa (both in World War 2) and many others who took part in less glamourised military operations worldwide.

Here, in our own country, none fits the description of ‘The Forgotten Army’ more than the valiant officers and jawans of Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF), who fought and died in Sri Lanka and many of whom now live as veterans in their hometowns, unsung.

Lately, there has been a welcome initiative on the part of the military establishment to recognise the efforts of IPKF through annual memorials, held mostly in New Delhi. This is more due to the active efforts made by the veterans of the IPKF than by any suo moto initiative of the military establishment. This dedicated band of brothers ensures that the IPKF is not consigned to the annals of a forgotten army forever and the deeds of valour of those who fought in Sri Lanka.

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The book Resurrecting The IPKF Legacy is an important milestone in the endeavour to bring the achievements and sacrifices of IPKF to the fore. An anthology of incidents recounted by those who went through them firsthand, the collection has been edited by Lt Col Atul Kochhar and Lt Col BR Nair and published by notionpress.com. Both Kocchar and Nair have also recounted their experiences in IPKF in the book.

Each chapter brings out a unique perspective of the writer, and care has been taken to ensure that a wide cross-section of veterans of IPKF is represented in the anthology. So while there are hair-raising experiences of the Infantry foot soldiers in the book, there are also accounts of veterans of Armoured Corps, Engineers, Signals, Army Aviation, Intelligence, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and, most importantly, the wife of an IPKF officer whose husband died in battle.

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Amidst such a wide variety, it is challenging to choose which accounts to refer to, as each one has a message to convey. The common thread which runs through most stories is that of official apathy, mostly at political levels, and often, at military levels too, as the units and personnel were thrown into an unknown terrain and unknown enemy and given an ambiguous objective to achieve.

Colonel N Venugopal’s account of the mobilisation of the 41 Infantry Brigade from Lucknow to Pallaly airfield near Jaffna gives out the confusion which marred the IPKF intervention early on. Posted as the G3 of the brigade, a young Captain Venugopal was officiating as Brigade Major when the task of organising the mobilisation of the brigade fell upon him.

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Colonel Venugopal writes a gripping account of the link-up at Jaffna Fort, which was achieved with immense casualties and many mistakes. Incidentally, his parent battalion, 13 Sikh Light Infantry, was also thrown into battle without even waiting for its full strength. The valiant stand of troops of 13 Sikh LI at Jaffna University, in new terrain and an unknown country with no orientation, is a story for another time.

Group Captain AG Bewoor, who was commanding 44 Squadron in 1987, writes a detailed account of how T-72 tanks were inducted into Sri Lanka in IL-76 aircraft. The trials and tribulations of this operation make one marvel at the ingenuity of the IAF loadmasters and the determination of the aircrew. Group Captain Bewoor points out that the maximum load capacity of an IL-76 aircraft is 43 tons, and with a T-72 tank weighing the same, there was no room to spare to even take an empty condensed milk tin along with the tank.

The most poignant memories are shared by Shobha Madhavan, wife of Captain Sudhakar Madhavan of the 65 Armoured Regiment, who died fighting LTTE in Jaffna. With a young wife and a little son, he was settling in for a regimental tenure in Babina when the orders to move to Sri Lanka were received in October 1987. Barely a few days later, Capt Madhavan died in battle.

On the way to cremating her husband’s body, Shobha Madhavan had to hear slogans shouted by crowds on the streets in support of ethnic Tamils, some of them screaming at the Army convoy, “He killed our Tamils”.

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These words accurately sum up the futility of IPKF and the cost of the blood of Indian troops shed in the island country.

First uploaded on: 04-06-2023 at 16:20 IST
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