Operation Pawan Samman Samaroh
Indian Armed Forces were deployed in Sri Lanka as a part of Indian Peace Keeping Forces under Operation Pawan from 29 July 1987 till 24th March 1990. This was based on Indo Sri Lanka accord signed between Then PM Rajiv Gandhi & Then President of Sri Lanka Mr. Jaya Wardane on 29 July 1987. In addition to the Indian Airforce & Indian Navy complement, four divisions of Indian Army were deployed in the northern and eastern districts of Sri Lanka namely Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Battica Loa. This was done basically to bring about peace amongst the Tamilian and Sinhalese communities who were involved in a civil war since 1983. The aim of deploying the Indian peace keeping forces was to prevent any other power or country to interfere in the internal strife of the island nation.
On the intervening night of 11/12 Oct 1987, some units of IPKF were tasked to carry out an assault operation against terrorist camp of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) situated at Jaffna University. Accordingly 30 troops of 13 SIKHLI were under Major Virendra Singh VrC (Posthumous) were heli dropped in the Jaffna University premises. However, the info of the impending Operation was somehow known to the LTTE leaders through radio interceptions. The moment the troops landed they were faced with heavy firing from the LTTE. The troops under their company commander fought valiantly but ran out of ammunition& communication. Unfortunately 29 out of 30 troops laid down their lives in the line of duty leaving behind Sepoy (later Naik) Gora Singh the lone survivor. Another unit the 10 para commandos were also involved in the Operation& they too suffered casualties. 5 of their young men to laid down their lives.
38 years later on 11 October 2025, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut commemorated the event. The event was attended by families of 15 brave hearts and about 45 participants of the Operationalong with their families. A solemn function of wreath laying was conducted at the Shaheed Smarak of SVSU followed by felicitation of all the guests present for the occasion. Mrs. Stuti Narain Kacker, Chancellor SVSU presided over the event. Lt. Gen. Hardev Singh Lidder was the chief guest for the occasion. He himself was the part of IPKF as commanding officer of 9 Para Commando Battalion. Maj Gen (Dr.) GK Thapliyal, SM, Director General of the Trust was the Guest of Honour for the occasion. The program was organised under the tutelage of Dr. Atul Krishna, Founder SVSU & Dr. Shalya Raj CEO SVSU, by Col. Rajesh Tyagi SM, Director Subharti Defence Academy and Col. Aseem Kukreja, Chief Security Officer.
