Param Vir Chakra: Hoshiar Singh
Param Vir Chakra: Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon
Param Vir Chakra : Ramaswamy Parameshwaran
Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo
Rishi Kumar
November 1987: The war between the Tamils and the Sinhalese in the years 1986“87 resulted in many Tamil civilians being killed and an exodus of Tamils to India causing political and social unrest. An agreement between Sri Lanka and India was concluded which resulted in the induction of the Indian Army to bring peace between the warring communities. The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) however, backed down on the requirement to lay down arms and instead, attacked the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) violently. Peace keeping had now turned to fighting for peace. The IPKF was neither organised nor trained for this type of guerrilla warfare and suffered heavy casualties. They lacked intelligence, logistic supports and did not even have maps of the area. Worst of all the political aim was unclear and uncertain, and the command infrastructure tangled and confused. It was in this web of political and military contradictions that the IPKF and officers like Major Parmeswaran had to operate.
Major General Ian Cardozo was born in Mumbai and studied at St Xavier’s School and College. In July 1954, he joined the Joint Services Wing which later became the National Defence Academy. Here he was the first cadet to win the gold medal for being the best all-round cadet, and the silver medal for being first in order of merit. He was commissioned at the Indian Military Academy into the 1st Battalion the Fifth Gorkha Rifles (FF) in 1958, and was the first officer of the Army to be awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry on a patrol in NEFA in 1959. Wounded in the battle of Sylhet in Bangladesh in 1971, he overcame the handicap of losing a leg and became the first war-disabled officer to be approved for command of an Infantry Battalion. He retired in 1993 from his appointment as Chief of Staff of a Corps in the East. Author of The Sinking of INS-Khukri: Survivor’s Stories and Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle, he has worked with the Spastics Society of Northern India and was chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India for nine years. At present he is the Vice President of the War Wounded Foundation.
Rishi Kumar is a graduate from Delhi College of Art in the Applied Art course. He has worked as an illustrator with various advertising and publishing companies. He is currently working as a freelance illustrator. Besides art he has an interest in computer gaming. His name has been acknowledged in the Limca Book of National Records 2016 for his work.
Size Guide
×
You May Also Like
