The Jaffna University Helidrop was the first of the operations launched by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) aimed at disarming the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by force and securing the town of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, in the opening stages of Operation Pawan during the active Indian mediation in the Sri Lankan Civil War.
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On 4 October 1987, the Sri Lankan Navy captured an LTTE boat off Point Pedro with seventeen Tigers, including some high-profile leaders of the movement, on board.
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By the time the first flight of the second wave—flown again by Sapre and Vinayraj—took off from Palali airbase however, the Tigers had been able to identify the approach route and moved troops and heavy machine guns to the rooftop of a building north of the field.
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By the time the first flight of the second wave landed back at Palali, the paras numbered eighty instead of the preplanned hundred and twenty.
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The rebels were at this time in IPKF custody at Palali Airbase pending transfer to Sinhalese authorities.
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Under increasingly intense ground fire, they took off to head back to Palali.
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The Jaffna University Helidrop was the first of the operations launched by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) aimed at disarming the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) by force and securing the town of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, in the opening stages of Operation Pawan during the active Indian mediation in the Sri Lankan Civil War.