Recent India-Srilanka Defence Exercise

• A team of 4 Sarang Advance Light Helicopters, Surya Kiran (Hawks), Tejas Fighter Aircraft and the Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft from India were in Sri Lanka this week, to participate

Historical background:

• During Sri Lanka’s over three decade-civil war, India has played a crucial role, politically and at times, using its military.
• India launched ‘Operation Poomalai’ in 1987 — when the Indian Air Force dropped food supplies in Jaffna.

Other Indian Operations in the Past:

• Operation Polo 1948 Indian armed forces ended the rule of the Nizam of Hyderabad and led to the incorporation of the princely state of Hyderabad into the Indian Union.
  • By Sardar Patel’s plan, Army and Police led by Maj Gen J N Chaudhuri attacked and covered Hyderabad.
• Operation Vijay 1961 - Code name is given for Liberation of Goa.
  • Goa was placed under military administration headed by Kunhiraman Palat Candeth as Lieutenant Governor. Later it was granted statehood in 1987.
• Operation Trident 1971 - Offensive operation launched by the Indian Navy on December 4 – 5 in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. This operation saw the first use of anti-ship missiles in combat in the region. We celebrate Navy Day on December 4th to mark the success of this operation.
• Operation Meghna Heli Bridge 1971 Aerial operation of Indian and Bangladeshi allied forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. It took place on 9 December, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) airlifted the Mukti Bahini and the IV Corps of the Indian Army over the River Meghna, bypassing the destroyed Meghna Bridge and Pakistani defences in Ashuganj.
• Operation Blue Star 1984 Indian military action was carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984 to remove militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar, Punjab. Operation Woodrose was taken up to counter the protests that came after this operation.
• Operation Meghdoot 1984 Launched on 13 April 1984, this military operation was the first assault launched in the highest battlefield in the world. The military action resulted in Indian troops gaining control of the entire Siachen Glacier.
• Operation Pawan 1987 - Operations by the Indian Peace Keeping Force to take control of Jaffna from the LTTE in late 1987 to enforce the disarmament of the LTTE as a part of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord.
  • Operation Viraat, which occurred in 1988, after Operation Pawan, was an anti-insurgency operation launched by the IPKF against the LTTE in April 1988 in Northern Sri Lanka
• Operation Cactus 1988 - Para commandos of Indian Army and MARCOS of Indian Navy oust Tamil nationalist mercenaries of PLOTE (People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam) who instigated a coup in Malé in the Maldives.
• Operation Vijay 1999 - Indian operation to push back the infiltrators from the Kargil Sector, in the 1999 Kargil War.
• Operation Black Tornado 2008 - 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taliban carried out 12 coordinated attacks in Mumbai.
  • Indian Armed Force planned to stop these attacks.
• Operation Surya Hope 2013 - The Indian Army’s Central Command response to the June 2013 North India floods in Uttarakhand.
• Operation Goodwill - Humanitarian tasks in J&K.
• Operation Good Samaritan - Humanitarian tasks in Manipur, Nagaland
• Operation Maitri 2015 - India’s Army-led rescue and relief mission in quake-hit Nepal.
• Operation Sahyog 2018 - To rescue people in flood-hit Kerala.