India and the Sri Lankan Tamil Conflict: The IPKF Story — MCQs with Answers (Set 1)

After India’s December 1989 election, V.P. Singh’s government ordered the IPKF’s withdrawal, and the last troops left Sri Lanka by March 1990, without having achieved the original disarmament goal.

Operation Pawan targeted the Jaffna peninsula. An opening commando raid went badly wrong after the LTTE intercepted radio traffic, and roughly three weeks of heavy urban fighting followed before the IPKF secured Jaffna.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on 29 July 1987. It promised devolution of power to Tamil-majority provinces and led directly to the IPKF’s deployment.

IPKF troop strength peaked at roughly 80,000 to 100,000. Fighting a guerrilla force in unfamiliar jungle and urban terrain proved far harder than expected, and the mission cost India dearly: over 1,200 Indian soldiers killed.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated at an election rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, by an LTTE suicide bomber. The government’s Jain Commission investigation concluded the LTTE orchestrated the killing in retaliation for the IPKF intervention.

The war finally ended in 2009, when Sri Lankan government forces militarily defeated the LTTE.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber in 1991, in apparent retaliation for the IPKF mission.

The IPKF withdrew from Sri Lanka in 1990, without having achieved its original disarmament goals.

Under the accord, India sent the Indian Peace Keeping Force, or IPKF, into Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan Tamil separatists sought an independent state called Tamil Eelam in the island’s north and east.