Sir, – I am a little bemused by the furore over the remarks by John Larkin, the Northern Ireland Attorney General (front page, November 21st) when there is a very pertinent precedent. As long ago as 1979 the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher at the Lancaster House talks on Rhodesia/Zimbabwe independence included provisions for a full general amnesty for all acts committed during the war there.
This freed Ian Smith and the UDI government and forces of any charges arising from “any act done in good faith for the purpose of, or in connection with, resisting or combating any organisation”. It likewise gave the opposing Patriotic Front forces immunity for “any acts in resisting or frustrating the administration purporting to be the government of Southern Rhodesia”.
It would be of interest to hear why a full amnesty was regarded as essential to the Rhodesian Lancaster House ceasefire agreement but was not considered as part of the Belfast Agreement. – Yours, etc,
TIMOTHY HORGAN,
Weimar Street,
Putney,
London, England.