Sinn Féin was tonight accused of "double standards" after its chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness queried whether people exiled by the IRA during the Troubles could return home.
The deputy leader of the Alliance Party, Ms Eileen Bell, expressed incredulity at the Mid Ulster MP's comments in a newspaper interview.
With Sinn Féin anxious to secure a deal which would enable on-the-run paramilitaries to return to Northern Ireland, the former Stormont Education Minister acknowledged the plight of those exiled by the IRA over 34 years would have to be addressed.
But he added: "That said, I would be concerned at the prospect of people coming back into communities and there being a community reaction."
Mr McGuinness's comments in an interview with the London newspaper The Timesangered campaigners on behalf of those exiled.
Mrs Bell accused the Sinn Féin MP of "being selective about human rights".
"When will Sinn Féin acknowledge that human rights belong to everyone, including IRA exiles? she said.
"An end to the abuse of forcible exiling is a necessary 'act of completion' for all paramilitary groups.
"If any of those exiled have been guilty of a crime, and that does not include all exiles by any means, then the only way to deal with them is through the PSNI and justice system - not intimidation by thugs."
During the past 30 years, the IRA and loyalists ordered people accused of petty crime in their communities to leave Northern Ireland for their own safety.
Campaigners have argued that the return of those exiled should be linked by the British and Irish Governments to an amnesty for on-the-run paramilitaries.
Mrs Bell said it was difficult to see how Sinn Fein, as a signatory to the Good Friday Agreement, could justify the continued exiling of individuals.
PA