JONATHAN STEPHENSON,
Sir, - I was standing only a few feet from Gerry Kelly when he spoke at the Bloody Sunday Commeration march last weekend in Derry, so I was well placed to hear his disgraceful remarks comparing those who were killed at Loughall and in Gibraltar to the 14 who died in Derry.
The British shot first and dodged questions afterwards in all three localities, but at least those who died at Loughall (while bombing a police station) and in Gibraltar (while on a mission to kill soldiers) were active combatants, with the exception of the unlucky passer-by at Loughall.
The point about the 14 who died in Derry was that they were totally uninvolved and innocent, as were those who died on Bloody Friday and on the Shankill Road in Belfast, at La Mon, in Claudy and in the countless other places where the IRA bombed first and didn't even acknowledge the questions afterwards, including the Old Bailey bombing for which Gerry Kelly went to jail.
The IRA volunteers referred to by Kelly knew the risks; the 14 Derry dead didn't think they were taking any and Gerry Kelly dishonours their memory with a false comparison.
If we are talking about combatants, a member of my family was shot in Derry and died on Bloody Sunday also. His name was Robin Alers-Hankey and he was a soldier who was wounded in the city a few months earlier and died of those wounds on that day. Given what Martin McGuinness now tells us about his own role and about the scarcity of IRA weapons and volunteers in Derry before Bloody Sunday, it is entirely possible that Mr McGuinness might have a fair idea who killed him. I met his widow a few days ago, but she wouldn't have needed reminding about the anniversary so I didn't mention it. Others do seem to need reminding that there is no monopoly of pain in this conflict.
Gerry Kelly received a rapturous reception in Derry and even I clapped politely. The applause for SDLP Chairman Alex Attwood's contribution was more muted, but he was surely right when he said that while the Saville Inquiry was starting to shed light into some very murky areas of our shared history, there are other corners of that history, beyond even Free Derry Corner, which could do with some illumination too. - Yours, etc.,
JONATHAN STEPHENSON, SDLP Chairman 1995-1998, Belfast 9.