An amazing and unbelievable narration of a true story.
OP Pawan' (Indian Army operations in Sri Lanka, 1987) was launched and ours
being a tambi (troops from South India) battalion we were handpicked to be
among the first to be inducted in Sri Lanka. Our affinity to the civil
populace, language and similarity of men would give us an edge while
conducting any operation. This was the premise and here we were in the
jungles of Sri Lanka chasing the dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
LTTE. Well, for the uninitiated, this was nothing we had prepared ourselves
for. The LTTE were a formidable foe and gave us a torrid time settling down.
I was deployed with my platoon (being a very junior officer) at KKS
(Kankeshantorai) near Palali Airport in North Sri Lanka. Soon we built our
intelligence network and information started trickling in. We gave them a
bloody nose and at regular intervals dented their leadership structure. By
and by our actions started paying results and we established our domination
in the area. It is a different matter that the locals gave me the nickname
of 'Butcher'; the higher headquarters too, sent across the 'hard-nuts' for
interrogation. The LTTE cadre was very highly motivated and would chew on
the cyanide pill hanging around their neck, rather than divulge any
information. But we countered these actions and could extract some
'real-time' information. Our swift follow up actions resulted in the
extermination of more than 150 hardcore LTTE terrorists.
Soon, I was the tgt of the LTTE and a prize was placed on my head aka the
Wild Wild West. Time went by and the influence of the LTTE was diminishing
in our Area of Responsibility.
Evening of Dec 19, 1988, our convoy left our base for operation and after
having traveled for 15 kms we were ambushed. A burst of automatics from our
left targeted our vehicle. Sitting besides the driver, I got an entire
fusillade. The vehicle overturned and we were thrown over; I was floating
OP Pawan' (Indian Army operations in Sri Lanka, 1987) was launched and ours
being a tambi (troops from South India) battalion we were handpicked to be
among the first to be inducted in Sri Lanka. Our affinity to the civil
populace, language and similarity of men would give us an edge while
conducting any operation. This was the premise and here we were in the
jungles of Sri Lanka chasing the dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
LTTE. Well, for the uninitiated, this was nothing we had prepared ourselves
for. The LTTE were a formidable foe and gave us a torrid time settling down.
I was deployed with my platoon (being a very junior officer) at KKS
(Kankeshantorai) near Palali Airport in North Sri Lanka. Soon we built our
intelligence network and information started trickling in. We gave them a
bloody nose and at regular intervals dented their leadership structure. By
and by our actions started paying results and we established our domination
in the area. It is a different matter that the locals gave me the nickname
of 'Butcher'; the higher headquarters too, sent across the 'hard-nuts' for
interrogation. The LTTE cadre was very highly motivated and would chew on
the cyanide pill hanging around their neck, rather than divulge any
information. But we countered these actions and could extract some
'real-time' information. Our swift follow up actions resulted in the
extermination of more than 150 hardcore LTTE terrorists.
Soon, I was the tgt of the LTTE and a prize was placed on my head aka the
Wild Wild West. Time went by and the influence of the LTTE was diminishing
in our Area of Responsibility.
Evening of Dec 19, 1988, our convoy left our base for operation and after
having traveled for 15 kms we were ambushed. A burst of automatics from our
left targeted our vehicle. Sitting besides the driver, I got an entire
fusillade. The vehicle overturned and we were thrown over; I was floating
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