Unionists have been assured that members of the security forces arrested for offences before the Belfast Agreement will be treated the same way as paramilitaries who are allowed to return without prosecution.
As the British government prepares to unveil its controversial proposals allowing paramilitaries who fled the North to avoid arrest to return, the Northern Ireland Secretary insisted no one should be treated like a second-class citizen under the judicial process.
Mr Peter Hain today said: "Any member of the security forces who might find themselves charged of crimes pre-1998, should not suffer any discrimination compared with those involved in paramilitary activity, loyalist or republican, who benefit from the scheme and come through out on licence.
"This is a proper judicial scheme and members of the security forces should at least be treated equally."
Unionists have been highly critical of the scheme, which comes on the back of the completion of IRA disarmament and the organisation's July statement that it is ending its armed campaign.
They have also expressed concerns that paramilitaries who benefit from the legislation would not be jailed if found guilty of crimes during the Troubles while members of the security forces could be imprisoned for breaking the law before 1998.
Mr Hain has acknowledged the British government faced a tough task in trying to pass the on-the-runs legislation through the House of Lords.