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Abstract
India has intervened militarily against three of its neighbors in the last 3 decade: East Pakistan in 1971, Sri Lanka in 1987 and the Maldives in 1988. Following the Pakistani military ruler Yahya Khan's strike on a number of Indian advanced air bases on December 3, 1971, India invaded what was then East Pakistan and fought the Pakistani army and the 100,000‐strong Bangladesh guerrilla formation “Mukti Bahini.” When India recognized the independent Bangladesh in December 1971, the war on the eastern front was waged under the joint Indo‐Bangladesh command.
The Indian military action in 1988 in the Maldives took place, according to Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, on the “formal appeal for urgent military assistance to put down this [coup] plot.” Some 1,600 Indian paratroopers fought against 400 foreign mercenaries who were attempting a coup to depose President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. A general appeal for help had been sent to many countries, such as the US and the UK, but the Maldives sought military assistance only from India.