Even as it publicly refused to give Sri Lanka any offensive weapons for the war against LTTE, India had a "hidden hand" in the success of the island nation's campaign over the terrorist outfit, says a new book.

Although in the initial days he was advised to seek a negotiated settlement with the Tamil Tigers, New Delhi saw merit in Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's argument that the LTTE was only biding its time to regroup and rearm itself and that war was inevitable sooner than later, says 'Sri Lanka, From War to Peace', by journalist Nitin Gokhale.

Defence and Strategic Affairs Editor with NDTV, Gokhale covered the 33-month Eelam War in Sri Lanka.

The Mi-17s that India 'quietly gifted' to Lanka were in addition to a Sukanya class offshore patrol vessel also gifted by the Indian Coast Guard to the Sri Lankan Navy in 2002. The choppers played a major role in several daring missions launched by the Sri Lankan Air Force to rescue the army's deep penetration units and injured soldiers from deep inside LTTE-held territory, the book says.

"Hampered by domestic compulsion, New Delhi could not go beyond such meagre and clandestine transfer of military hardware. Publicly all India was willing to acknowledge was the supply of low-flying detection "Indra" radars to the Sri Lankan Air Force since this equipment was considered a defensive apparatus," the author says.

Gokhale quotes senior Sri Lankan army officers saying that thanks to the Mi-17s, the soldiers operating behind enemy lines functioned with a greater degree of confidence since they knew these choppers were always at hand to come to their rescue whenever necessary. This surely was the key factor in our Special Forces delivering spectacular results.

... contd.