Sunday, Apr 21, 2002
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By Hasan Suroor
The peace process was thrown into turmoil as critics questioned the IRA's commitment to 1998's Good Friday Agreement, even as the British Government cautioned against jumping to conclusions. The Northern Ireland Secretary, John Reid, said there was no indication that the IRA was intending to break the ceasefire — to which it agreed as part of the Good Friday accord — and return to its terror campaign. The list, which also contains information on British army bases and was described by one newspaper as a "Who's Who of the British establishment", was found when police raided a house in north Belfast in connection with a separate incident. It is believed to be part of the IRA's extensive database containing "masses of information", but security agencies were keen to emphasise that it did not point to any specific terrorist plan. In fact, much of the information was said to be of a general nature — "pretty low-grade stuff", as The Times put it — and there were doubts whether its possession would even be deemed illegal. Details about Mr. Major and other Tory leaders, such as the former Chancellor, Lord Lamont, came from their autobiographies or websites; Mr. Major's profile included names of his favourite restaurants. Despite the `alarmist' media coverage, the discovery was not considered of great significance from a security standpoint, but observers were worried about its political implications. "The discovery shows that the IRA is continuing to amass intelligence...despite claiming to be on ceasefire and winning concessions by decommissioning two batches of weapons," one commentator said. Even moderate Unionists voiced their concern. At a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) on Friday, there was pressure on the leadership to call for sanctions against Sinn Fein. Meanwhile, north Belfast, where clashes had broken out Thursday night, was quiet today.
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