India pays homage to fallen IPKF soldiers in Lanka

Colombo: India on Saturday paid homage to its soldiers who lost their lives while fighting Tamil rebels on a peacekeeping mission in northern Sri Lanka.

The Indian High Commissioner in Colombo, Ashok K Kantha, and senior Sri Lankan and Indian officials laid wreaths at the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) memorial at Palaly in the northern Jaffna peninsula. The IPKF memorial at Palaly was built in 2008 in memory of the martyrs of the 10 para regiment of the Indian Army who laid down their lives in the country between 1987 and 1990. The seven structure memorial has names of 33 martyrs engraved, the Indian officials said. The IPKF was sent to Sri Lanka in July 1987 as part of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord signed between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Sri Lankan President JR Jayawardene. It was sent to keep peace between the Sri Lankan government troops and the LTTE. They were to disarm the Sri Lankan rebel outfit. PTI