IN the House of Commons, the Prime Minister resisted Opposition demands that prisoner releases in Northern Ireland should be halted until the punishment beatings that are taking place daily are halted.

Mr Blair knows that if he calls a halt to prisoner releases now, he risks seeing the peace process falling apart and a return to violence. Yet is not the peace process a sham when no arms have been handed in and the terrorists' groups on both sides hand out severe beatings to anybody who dares cross their path?

The problem is that the terrorist groups have no incentive to hand in their weapons or stop the beatings because they know prisoners are being released anyway.

If, for the sake of peace, the government feels that it has to start letting out the terrorists, then so be it. They should, however, have had the sense to link the releases with the handing-in of arms and the disbanding of the many gangs which rule many areas in Northern Ireland.

By not doing so, the Government has no cards to play while the terrorist groups hold all the aces.

I do not see which way the Government can extradite itself from the position it finds itself in. It can either let the terrorist organisations carry on with the beatings, or it can stop the prisoners being released and risk a return to violence.

M SANDWELL (Mr), Bridge Terrace, Whalley.

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