TORY leadership contender Jeremy Hunt has sought to clarify comments on former British soldiers facing Troubles prosecutions.
The foreign secretary was criticised by Conservative MPs and unionist parties after saying it was a "difficult issue" but under the Good Friday Agreement "there is a need to treat both sides in the same way".
Speaking at a hustings event on Wednesday night, he said: "The main thing and I want to be honest about this, you know, the peace in Northern Ireland was hard won and under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, there is a need to treat both sides in the same way, however angry we may have felt about what happened."
DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson urged Mr Hunt to "revise his position", claiming British soldiers during the Troubles have not received equal treatment.
Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie said there is "no equivalence between the security forces.. and the terrorists they were trying to thwart", and called on the Tory leadership hopeful to clarify his remarks.
A spokesman for Mr Hunt said he was "making a point about the way the Belfast Agreement treats criminal action".
"He is clear there is no equivalence between the action of terrorists who seek to kill and maim, and soldiers who acted to promote peace and protect the public. He made it abundantly clear he opposes the way veterans are being pursued decades on," he added.
Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Peter Hain has called on the British government to bring forward legislation to provide a pension for those "who through absolutely no fault of their own were so catastrophically damaged" during the Troubles.
The issue was raised in the House of Lords.
Mr Hain said the government should act "without delay" and present a bill to parliament before it rises at the end of next month.
He said the call for swift action had widespread cross-party support, adding: "We have to act and to act quickly to remedy this appalling injustice."
