Agencies/London

The Victims Commissioner and nationalist politicians have accused the Northern Ireland secretary of displaying insensitivity and offending victims of the conflict.
Theresa Villiers suggested most people did not wake up worrying about the past and called for “proportionate” focus on wrongdoing by republicans and loyalists rather than the police as part of future measures to heal divisions.
Commissioner Kathryn Stone cautioned politicians against adopting a simplistic view as she announced she is to take up a post in England.
And senior Sinn Fein member Gerry Kelly claimed the government had positioned itself firmly on unionist ground. He added: “Theresa Villiers’s claims that there has been too much focus on state killings stems from the fact that during the conflict state killings and collusion were never properly investigated.
“And the reason so many cases on state killings are now going through the courts is that families are being denied the truth about the murder of their loved ones right up until the present day.”
Villiers gave a keynote speech in Belfast and said the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland did not wake up on a Monday morning worrying about the past, flag flying or contentious parades. Stone claimed Villiers’s comments were: “Insensitive to thousands of victims and survivors who do wake up every morning living with the legacy of the past and fearing what new trauma is around the corner.
“Victims and survivors have given politicians a brave, dignified and progressive lead on what we need to do to address the very real and difficult issue of dealing with the past.”
Victims on both sides have demanded justice for the loss of loved ones while human rights lawyers have argued that truth recovery is vital to help heal deep wounds which still exist in Northern Ireland society.