The most wicked purposes were pursued in yesterday's cold blooded murder of RUC Constables Graham and Johnston in Lurgan town centre. And the swift statement claiming responsibility negates any possibility that this was an aberration or an action by maverick elements. This was the calculated work of the IRA which is all the one seamless entity with Sinn Fein.
Both the timing and the choice of target were significant. Not since the attempted murder of Reservist WPC Alice Collins in Derry has the IRA targeted members of the RUC. Murdering police officers is not calculated to win floating votes among nationalists who know that they must depend on the RUC to hold the line as, for example, at Harryville. But with the Westminster and the Dail elections out of the way and with Messrs Adams, McGuinness and O Caolain safely elected to their seats it is apparently time to switch on the terror again.
Moreover, from the Provisionals viewpoint, there yet remains the unwelcome possibility that a further crisis at Drumcree may be avoided. The Secretary of State, Dr Mowlam, is meeting residents and marchers in an effort to broker a compromise. There are signs middle ground unionist thinking wishes to pull back and that responsible elements in the Orange Order are striving to avoid another confrontation.
This does not suit the Provisionals' agenda. Their propaganda gains in another Drumcree would be enormous. The further polarisation of relations would further enhance their role as protectors of the nationalists. The creation of further pressure upon the police this time from the unionist community would be an added bonus.
The Lurgan murders will make it even more difficult for moderate unionists to hold their supporters in check. It will further diminish the likelihood of any trust being built between representatives of the residents on the Garvaghy Road and the Orange Order. With this attack the IRA has not only ended the lives of two innocent policemen. It has considerably weighted the odds against a peaceful resolution for Drumcree.
But more than anything else these murders have put back the possibility of inclusive political progress. The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State had made plain their desire to have Sinn Vein involved in the talks process and had gone some distance to soften any remaining preconditions. Dr Mowlam indeed had hinted that time which elapsed without IRA violence even without the declaration of a ceasefire would be taken into account in getting Sinn Vein to talks. Any such credit has been dissipated and British government contacts with Sinn Vein are now terminated. Similarly, any flexibility which the incoming Government of Mr Bertie Ahern might have considered in its dealings with Sinn Vein has been eliminated.
And what of Sinn Fein itself and its "democratic mandate"? Will Mr Adams and his lieutenants still insist that a vote for them is a vote for peace? Did the 11,500 people who gave their first preference in Cavan Monaghan to Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain reinforce or diminish the murderous intent of those who stalked the two police officers yesterday on the streets of Lurgan? The time has arrived it is well past for Sinn Vein to decide; either it must deliver its IRA fellow travellers with a full and permanent ceasefire or it must abandon them to their violence.