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People who watched a recent programme showing a young Belfast
man, David Hanley, who was blinded last July, when he became
yet another innocent victim of paramilitary feuding, cannot
fail to have been moved by his gentle Christian attitude to
his great handicap.
David, who suffered horrendous injuries when shot by mistake
during a loyalist feud in North Belfast, only survived because
of the brilliant surgeon who carried out the lifesaving operation.
Not everyone would have been so brave and positive in such
a situation, which speaks volumes for David Hanley's character
and Christianity.
The dreadful reality of paramilitarism and its effects on
Northern Ireland and its people have been spotlighted once
again, this terrible crime and the affliction has visited
on a lovely young Ulsterman.
It should never have happened, and the same applies to the
murders of thousands of people in this Province, and the wounding
of tens of thousands during the 35 years of the Troubles.
The primary blame for the suffering caused by so many people,
both Protestant and Roman Catholic, lies with the paramilitary
organisations who carried out these dreadful crimes.
But a large share of the blame must rest with successive
British Governments who had responsibility for governing Northern
Ireland during the years of the Troubles.
Failure to deal with the Provisional IRA in the early years
of the conflict, fighting the terrorists with one hand behind
its back, and an unwillingness to allow the security forces
to use the measures needed to defeat the IRA campaign.
All this led to utter frustration on the part of the Unionist
population, and unfortunately an element resorted to counter-force
against republican violence, and the formation of loyalist
paramilitary organisations.
All this, primarily IRA violence, with its murders and explosions,
and the counter violence of loyalist paramilitaries, practically
destroyed the fabric of Northern Ireland society.
It speaks volumes for the decency of the vast majority of
Northern Ireland folk that the Province did not disintegrate
and fall apart, or that civil war did not erupt on the scale
of Yugoslavia.
Eventually, the British Government, prodded by the United
States of America, reached a flawed Agreement with the Provisional
IRA, which is called the 'Peace Process'.
Under this process, hundreds of murderers have been allowed
to walk free, the Government, along with that of the Republic
of Ireland, is committed to getting Sinn Fein-IRA into a restored
Assembly at Stormont.
As part of this deal, the RUC was destroyed, a new police
force with inbuilt discrimination against Protestants has
replaced it, and every effort has been made to airbrush the
real victims of the Troubles, the families of murdered policemen,
soldiers and innocent civilians, out of history.
In the 'new' Northern Ireland, crimes like the shooting and
blinding of David Hanley have little chance of being solved,
especially if the result of people being brought to the bar
of justice, the 'peace process' could be jeopardised.
What a sad commentary on the situation in the 'new' Northern
Ireland, where the law-abiding majority are hit with rising
taxes and costs, with the suspension of a democratic assembly
due to the appeasement by the Government towards Sinn Fein-IRA,
and justice is stood on its head.
It is time that the real victims of the Troubles and their
families had their needs addressed, and the needs of suffering
victims brought to the top of the agenda.
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