CONFLICT IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND

Abstract

The latest wall inscription in Nationalist Belfast is a number: 3000. It is the number of people who have died in the latest round of the 'troubles'; 3000 out of a population of 1.5 million. In India, the same percentage of the population would be 160 takhs.

For 20 of the past 24 years, Northern Ireland was in the world's eye. The media chronicled the bombs and the bullets, the death and the destruction, with sickening regularity. But for the past few years, the Northern Ireland question has almost been forgotten. The focus of attention, at the time of writing, is on places like Serbia, Bosnia, Hezergovina, South Africa and Afghanistan.