Military history is something that has been given short shrift in India for decades, though the last few years have seen several well-written books exploring various facets of India’s armed forces, from their role in politics to their involvement in the two world wars.
Army officer-turned-journalist Sushant Singh’s Mission Overseas works well because its confines itself to three missions by the Indian Army on foreign soil. In less than 200 pages, he packs in tremendous detail and explains why these missions were or weren’t a success and what they meant for India’s geo-political standing.
Many Indians would be aware of all three missions – Operation Cactus, the daring 1988 operation to thwart an attempt by mercenaries to oust President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives; Operation Pawan, the disastrous intervention by the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka; and Operation Khukri, which was mounted to rescue more than 200 Indian peacekeepers besieged by rebels in Sierra Leone in 2000. Read more
Source: Hindustan Times
