AN IMPRESSIONISTIC VIEW OF THE SITUATION IN EARLY 1990 I.1
January 1990: A Time of Ironies By the end of December 1989, the
I.P.K.F. had withdrawn from all parts of the North-East,
excluding Jaffna and Trincomalee. A complete withdrawal, which
is being insisted upon by the Sri Lankan government, remains a
painful dilemma for India. Such an event will no doubt raise
difficult questions in India, when it comes to counting the cost
against what has been achieved. The Tamil civilian population,
both tired and having lost all capacity for self-assertion,
awaits events very much as before. It accepted the Tiger's
dominance in 1986 in the hope that, with one party in control,
life may be more orderly. When the Sri Lankan army launched its
Operation Liberation in May 1987 and was poised to enter Jaffna,
the people wished that the Tigers would go away instead of
putting up a resistance that would be costly, bloody and futile.
They had welcomed the Indian army with great relief, after the
Indians had stopped the Sri La