the city. At the same time, under the supervision of the (then) Vice-Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal S. Raghavendran, five An-32s were loaded with the relief supplies and took off for Bangalore at 0800. These were to fly out—led by Gp. Capt. B.K. Sunder, CO of Paratroop Training School—after dawn and carry out the supply drop under the cover of the Mirages, which were led by Wg. Cdr. Ajit Bhavnani, CO of No. 7 Squadron. A group of 35 national and international journalists also joined the flight. The Mirages were armed with two Matra Magic II AAMs and 2× 30 mm DEFA 554 revolver cannon with 125 rounds each as a measure against any opposition by the Sri Lanka Air Force, and also carried three drop tanks. Sri Lankan High Commissioner to New Delhi Bernard Tilakaratna was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs at 15:00, where the message was conveyed by Minister of External Affairs Natwar Singh that the Indian Air Force would be flying a mission at 16:00 to drop supplies over Jaffna. He was told that the aircraft were expected to complete their mission unhindered and any opposition by the Sri Lankan Air Force "would be met by force" by the escorting Mirage 2000s. The first of the flights left Bangalore at 15:55 and flew towards the Coramandel coast, where they were met by four Mirage escorts. One Mirage stayed back acting as radio relay, along with two additional An-32s over Tamil Nadu, which acted as radio relay to Bangalore. The An-32s carried almost 25 tons of relief supplies, consisting of rice, milk powder, vegetables, and kerosene. The flight leader attempted radio contact with Colombo ATC over the civilian air traffic radio channel at 16:47, but was unable to establish contact. The mission approached Jaffna peninsula at about 16:50 and sighted Jaffna Town itself at 17:00. The aircraft descended from 12000 feet to about 1500 feet and carried out the drop at the drop zone about 7 km from the town of Jaffna. The aircraft then turned in a western direction, flying over Palay airbase before turning north and heading for the Indian coast. The mission arrived back to over Bangalore at 18:13. Aftermath In the wake of Operation Poomalai, Sri Lanka accused India of violating its sovereignty. However, India defended its actions as a mercy mission in aid of what were termed as the deteriorating