Param Vir Chakra : Ramaswamy Parameshwaran

November 1987: The war between the Tamils and the Sinhalese in the years 1986?87 resulted in many Tamil

civilians being killed and an exodus of Tamils to India causing political and social unrest. An agreement

between Sri Lanka and India was concluded which resulted in the induction of the Indian Army to bring

peace between the warring communities. The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) however, backed

down on the requirement to lay down arms and instead, attacked the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)

violently. Peace keeping had now turned to fighting for peace. The IPKF was neither organised nor trained

for this type of guerrilla warfare and suffered heavy casualties. They lacked intelligence, logistic supports

and did not even have maps of the area. Worst of all the political aim was unclear and uncertain, and the

command infrastructure tangled and confused. It was in this web of political and military contradictions that

the IPKF and officers like Major Parmeswaran had to operate.