The sense of injustice and discrimination felt by many Protestants
shows no sign of diminution as the Bloody Sunday inquiry in
Londonderry continues to run.
It's not that most Protestants would seek to deny the relatives
of the people killed in Londonderry in 1972 the opportunity
of voicing their concern over what they sincerely believe
was a great wrong inflicted on their loved ones and community.
But relatives of the men murdered at Kingsmill, Teebane,
Tullyvallen, La Mon, Darkley and in Belfast on Bloody Friday
1972 find it impossible to understand how so much public money
can be poured by the Government into the Bloody Sunday inquiry,
and yet no similar inquiries are in the pipeline for the many
atrocities committed against the Protestant and Unionist population.
They also hear continuous calls for public inquiries into
the killings of Pat Finucane, Rosemary Nelson and Robert Hamill
but no similar clamour for inquiries into the deaths of many
Protestants slain in equally cruel and atrocious fashion.
This sense of injustice will not lessen, and will continue
as long as the Government fails to address the legitimate
cause of the Protestant families whose loved ones were victims
of the I.R.A. violence.
It is an issue which Unionist politicians of all hues must
continue to spotlight, and it is surely an issue which deserves
the support of democratic parties right across the political
spectrum in the United Kingdom.
It is equally frustrating for Protestants when they switch
on their television sets and see the European judges, including
a British presiding judge, hearing the evidence against former
Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milosevic for alleged war crimes
committed during the civil war in that country.
There are allegations that Milosevic and his Ministers facilitated
murders of people in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosevo during the
civil war.
Ulster people wonder why the Commission at the Hague is not
making strenuous efforts to bring to the bar of justice those
who committed atrocities against the Northern Ireland majority
community population during the 30 years of terrorism.
And while ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia, carried out by
all parties in that war, was terrible, why is there not action
about the ethnic cleansing carried out against the Protestant
population in Northern Ireland. This ethnic cleansing has
changed the demographic map of Northern Ireland, and resulted
in the expulsion of Protestants from the west bank of the
city of Londonderry, and many other parts of the Province.
It is remarkable how action can be taken vigorously to bring
about justice in some parts of Europe and the world generally,
but complete inertia in other places, including Northern Ireland,
over such matters.
Surely the responsibility for bringing those who were behind
the ethnic cleansing which took place in Northern Ireland
to the bar of justice lies with HM Government and its agencies?
If that is the case, they have so far shown little inclination
to pursuing this issue, and the signs are not encouraging
that they will change their policy.
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