Are we facing a new form of internment?

A debate is currently raging on whether to extend police powers to detain terrorist suspects without charge for up to 58 days – 30 more than under the current arrangements. You may remember that Tony Blair suffered his first major Commons defeat as Prime Minister when he failed in an attempt to raise the limit to 90 days.

I think it is incumbent upon any reasonable Government – and Opposition for that matter – to listen to all the arguments before making decisions of this magnitude: decisions that may have a direct bearing on our national security.

As a former soldier who served in Northern Ireland, I feel the key danger in extending the limit beyond what is absolutely necessary is the perception that a new form of internment without trial is being introduced.

Such a measure was introduced in the Province in 1971 during one of the most difficult and bloody periods of the Troubles. Over the next four years, more than 1,900 people – almost all of them Republicans - were interned in prison camps. However, a large proportion of these arrests were backed up by very poor intelligence with many of those detained never having been involved in Republican activity. Internment subsequently proved to be the best recruiting sergeant the IRA could have wished for at that time. It also led to a massive increase in support for the Republican cause.

Returning to the present, any increase the limits on detention for modern day terrorist suspects must be supported with evidence that it will work and not lead to greater societal problems in the longer term. The consequences of making the wrong call could be disastrous.