This story is from November 6, 2016

Comic book on war hero calls IPKF mission 'India's Vietnam'

The book, on Major Ramaswamy 'Parry' Parameswaran - the only soldier to be awarded a Paramvir Chakra in Operation Pawan - is part of a series on the bravehearts who won the highest gallantry medal in war.
Comic book on war hero calls IPKF mission 'India's Vietnam'
The book, on Major Ramaswamy 'Parry' Parameswaran - the only soldier to be awarded a Paramvir Chakra in Operation Pawan - is part of a series on the bravehearts who won the highest gallantry medal in war.
BHOPAL: Nearly three decades after India intervened militarily in Sri Lanka with IPKF, a comic book written by a decorated former major general says that the "political aim" was unclear to the soldiers, who were "not equipped to fight a guerrilla war".
The book, on Major Ramaswamy 'Parry' Parameswaran - the only soldier to be awarded a Paramvir Chakra in Operation Pawan - is part of a series on the bravehearts who won the highest gallantry medal in war.
It was released by Army chief general Dalbir Singh on November 4 while presenting the President's Colours to 20 and 21 Mahar Battalions at Sagar. Major Parameswaran was from the same regiment and led several daring missions in Sri Lanka.
The IPKF had to operate in a "web of political and military contradictions", the book says, pointing out that the mission that started off to assist the Lankan government to hold elections peacefully got sucked into a guerrilla war where "the insurgents were receiving arms, equipment, money and moral support from Tamil Nadu". "The very cause for which they were fighting was therefore questionable. This had an adverse effect on the morale of the troops," the book says.
Maj general Cardozo points out that IPKF was short on even basic equipment, like maps, and had "no intelligence about LTTE". The IPKF was neither organised nor trained for such warfare and suffered heavy causalities, the 32-page comic says. Born on September 13, 1946, to a Tamil family in Mumbai, Major Parmeswaran was selected for Officers Training Academy at Chennai in 1971 and was commissioned into 15 Mahar in January 1972. The cover of the comic says: "Despite being a Tamil himself, he put country first in battles with the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka". "Based on his record of service and knowledge of Tamil, he was selected to join 8 Mahar, one of the first units posted to Sri Lanka," it says.
One of the characters in the comic asks: "Sir, what are we fighting for?" Elsewhere, another soldier says: "This could very well be our Vietnam." The command set up was totally mixed up with too many masters, the book says.
Against this back drop, Major Parmeswaran led a fierce counterattack after being ambushed and destroyed an LTTE hideout. Firing a machinegun from the hip, he charged the LTTE and was killed in combat.A free-lance illustrator, Rishi Kumar, a graduate from Delhi College of Art, worked with Cardozo to produce the comic. Cardozo has written five more comics on Param Vir Chakra recipients - Somnath Sharma, Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, Abdul Hamid Khan, Bana Singh and Manoj Pandey.
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