Remembering Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran, the sole Param Vir Chakra recipient of Sri Lanka operations

Veterans of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), along with senior serving officers, will assemble at the National War Memorial in Delhi on Tuesday to pay tributes to Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran, who was the only soldier to receive the Param Vir Chakra (PVC) for gallantry during India's operations in Sri Lanka.

The IPKF was deployed in Sri Lanka from July 1987 to March 1990 under a bilateral accord aimed at disarming Tamil militant groups, particularly the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and ending the civil war.

It was India’s first major overseas military campaign post-Independence. While the deployment is regarded as tactically successful, albeit at a heavy human cost, the political, diplomatic and intelligence aspects continue to be debated. By the time the last Indian tr