Operation Pawan

• Context (TOI): Soldiers of Operation Pawan were remembered at the National War Memorial in Delhi.
• Operation Pawan was carried out by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to take control of Jaffna from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in late 1987.
• LTTE disarmament was a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in the aftermath of Sri Lankan civil war.
• IPKF was inducted on 30 July 1987. The first IPKF operation was launched on 9 October 1987.
• IPKF was successful in taking control of the Jaffna Peninsula from the LTTE after a two-week-long war.
• The operation was terminated on 24 March 1990.
• Though it achieved its stated objectives, it is often criticised. It does not receive “formal” commemoration at the National War Memorial, Delhi. However, Sri Lanka has built a memorial for it.

Indo-Sri Lanka Accord

• It was signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987 by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayawardene to resolve Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict.
• The Sri Lankan government agreed to give the nation’s provinces more power and autonomy and withdraw its troops. The Tamil separatists were to surrender their arms as well.
• However, LTTE declared their intent to continue the armed struggle for an independent Tamil Eelam and refused to disarm.
• 13th Amendment: It created Provincial councils and promised devolution of power to provinces, including Sinhala areas. Official language status to Tamil was also promised. However, successive governments have not implemented it.