Know about IAF's Operation Poomalai in Jaffna, Sri Lanka

New Delhi: On the 4th of June 1987, India stopped the siege of Jaffna by the Sri Lankan army. It was a humanitarian intervention but also a symbolic gesture. And the Sri Lankan president Jayewardene took this action as a military one, calling it “a naked violation of our independence”. Allegedly he threatened to fight Indians till the last bullet, but actually he sought to find an agreement with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Jaffna was at the time under blockade by Sri Lankan troops as a part of Colombo's offensive against the Tamil separatist movement. As civilian casualties grew, calls grew within India to intervene in what was increasingly seen in Tamil media as a developing humanitarian crisis, especially with reports of aerial bombardment against rebel positions in civilian areas. The day was June 3rd, 1987, and the place was the Maharajpur Air Force Station near Gwalior. Home to the two elite Mirage 2000 Squadrons of the Indian Air Force, Maharajpur was one of the key airbases of Central Air Command. The time was 0530 hours. Daylight has not yet broken out, when Wg Cdr Ajit Bhavnani received an important message. Bhavnani was the Commanding officer of the No.7 Squadron 'The Battle Axes'. The message he received was a directive to immediately move some of his aircraft to the south of the country. The destination was the HAL Airport in Bangalore. A giant Illyushin 76 was allocated to him to move supporting personnel and equipment to Bangalore airport. At the same time, under the supervision of the then Vice-Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal S. Raghavendran, five An-32s were loaded with the relief supplies and took off for Bangalore at 0800 hours. These were to fly out—led by Gp. Capt. B.K. Sunder, CO of Paratroop Training School—after dawn and carry out the supply drop under the cover of the Mirages, which were led by Wg. Cdr. Ajit Bhavnani. A group of 35 national and international journalists also joined the flight. The Mirages were armed with two Matra Magic II AAMs as a measure against any opposition by the Sri Lankan Air Force, and also carried three drop tanks. The Sri Lankan Ambassador to New Delhi was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs at 1500 hours, where the message was conveyed by Minister of External Affairs Natwar Singh that the Indian Air Force would be flying a mission at 1600 hours to drop supplies over Jaffna. The ambassador was told that the aircraft were expected to complete their mission unhindered and any opposition by the Sri Lankan Air Force "would be met by force" by the escorting Mirage 2000s. The first of the flights left Bangalore at 15:55 hours and flew towards the Coramandel coast, where they were met by four Mirage escorts. One Mirage stayed back acting as radio relay, along with two additional An-32s over Tamil Nadu, which acted as radio relay to Bangalore. The flight leader attempted radio contact with Colombo ATC over the civilian air traffic radio channel at 1647 hours, but was unable to establish contact. The mission approached Jaffna peninsula at about 1650 hours and sighted Jaffna Town itself at 1700 hours. The aircraft descended from 12000 feet to about 1500 feet and carried out the drop at the drop zone about 7 km from the town of Jaffna. The aircraft then turned in a western direction, flying over Palay airbase before turning north, heading for the Indian coast. Unopposed by Sri Lankan forces, the mission arrived back over Bangalore at 1813 hours, where they were greeted with much jubilation.Within two months, on 29 July, 1987, the India-Sri Lanka accord was signed, and the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPFK) was sent to northern Sri Lanka. And that, is a different chapter altogether.