Sunday, October 16, 2005
Sunday Scrutiny - PUP
The Progressive Unionist Party has ruled out severing its links with the Ulster Volunteer Force despite the group’s role in a bloody loyalist feud."The Progressive Unionist Party is committed to conflict transformation and the processes that empower and build a strong, confident and vibrant loyalist community," it said in a statement.
There had been speculation that the party would distance itself from the UVF, which has been linked to at least four deaths in its feud with the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
The PUP’s allowances for the North's assembly have been suspended because the British government has decided it is not doing enough to curb paramilitary violence by the UVF.
As far as I'm concerned, the fact that the PUP are openly admitting that they remain aligned to an organisation which has been engaged in murder means that the gloves should now come off.
We've seen unionists harp on about the links between Sinn Fein and the IRA but they go strangely quiet when it comes to the PUP and the UVF. This is no longer acceptable because the UVF are right now a bigger threat to peace than the IRA.
In September, when Peter Hain announced he was declaring the UVF ceasefire over in light of their violence, he declared:
"They have got to find a political way forward and my door is open to loyalist representatives to find out what their agenda is.
"Their agenda for the future not just their past grievances, which are important especially in these deprived communities, but also what their future agenda is, because Northern Ireland has got to look forward."
It is quite clear that their 'agenda' is to cause as much instability in Ireland's north as they can muster. These terrorists and their proxies in the PUP must be tackled by the authorities as their intentions have been made clear and their intentions are not good.
If the PUP won't go away, it's time to declare the party illegal. They are simply a talking shop for loyalist murderers and an affront to democracy.
# posted by United Irelander @ 12:44 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
