[mireOpekrhype]

I was reading a little bit on the Bosnian genocide recently. I was very young when it occured and as such, I don't really know too much about it. However, I know enough to see that many people suffered and I understand that oppression of people is wrong, whetehr those people are Muslim or Non Muslim (in this case, Muslim). I was just wondering whether Muslim organisations were out there helping people to rebuild their lives (I'm assuming their still suffering the effects of war) and if needed, raise some more awareness of their plight. I really have no knowledge of it, but it sort of cheesed me off remembering that people always pray for Palestine, etc (as they should) but never think about Sudan, Bosnia, etc

Any help would be appreciated

:

Wasalam

[Roneyslelry]

bro actually when I was young a lot of muslims prayed for Bosnia. There were a lot of fighters who went from the UK to fight and may ALLAH accept them. You are right. The plight of the Palestinians is highlighted in the media to a certain extent. But we cannot forget the others who face sometimes greater difficulties...e.g. Burma, mindano, checneya, kashmir, gujrat and the oppresssive regimes of the muslim world....the massacre by hafidh al asad of syria, the banning of hijab by the tunisians, the torture of the morrocans and libyans etc....the list is endless....we should remember everyone and realize how many blessings we have....

[Thomaswhitee]

Bosnian Muslim villages dying out

04 April 2012 | 03:31:04 PM| Source: AFP


A woman mourns during the funeral in Srebrenica, where 613 newly-identified Bosnian Muslims were buried. (EPA)

Refugee return to Muslim villages where vicious ethnic 'cleansing' occurred in the Bosnian Serb area of Zvornik was once hailed as a post-war success story but, twenty years on, life is petering out.

Key figures in the Bosnian war 1992-1995
Bosnia marks 20 years since war
Timeline: Conflict in Bosnia-Hercegovina

Add your comment

Many of the returnees have left again for lack of work and use their rebuilt houses as holiday homes, leaving only the elderly to sit out their old age on their native land.

Amir Kapidzic was one of the thousands of Muslims who returned to the area, which was the scene of brutal ethnic cleansing at the start of Bosnia's 1992-95 war, 20 years ago this week.

In 2002, he followed his grandparents back to his native village of Divic, which is now part of Bosnian Serbs' Republika Srpska, but he does not believe his three children will stay and his prognosis for the village is grim.

"In ten years there will be nobody left, the elderly will die and the young will leave. We will come to Divic only for the holidays," the 31-year-old said.

In the early months of the war, Serb paramilitaries chased the Muslims -- who made up 60 percent of the population -- from the Zvornik area. Over 1,800 people were killed and entire Muslim villages were razed to the ground.

In Divic, the militias came in June 1992 and bussed the women and children to Muslim-controlled areas. The men where taken to detention camps where around one hundred of them were killed. Among the dead was Kapidzic's father.

The pull of the homeland was strong when Kapidzic returned as a young man but relations with the majority Serbs surrounding his community remain strained.

"I grew up in Divic and returning here after the war was a given for me. But nothing will ever be like it was before after what the Serbs did to us," he said.

During the war, the area's abandoned Muslim villages in the area were inhabited by Bosnian Serbs who fled Sarajevo and its surroundings. In Divic, they tore down the old mosque and built an Orthodox church.

When Muslims started to return, the Serbs moved out. The church was taken down and reconstructed in a neighbouring village and a new mosque was erected.

The gleaming white minaret dwarfs Divic's scattering of houses, an increasing number of which are empty most of the year.

Husejn Tuscic was one of a dozen elderly residents gathered in the imposing new mosque for afternoon prayers. Like many here he has no desire to interact with Serbs.

"I have no contact whatsoever with Serbs. It is not worth the trouble," said the 60-year-old, who is still haunted by the year he spent in a Serb detention camp.

But what is killing the village this time is unemployment.

Kapidzic is one of the few inhabitants who has a job -- in a small workshop manufacturing aluminium frames -- but he said several of his friends had already left Divic to seek employment in the Muslim Croat Federation or abroad.

The village's young imam Mehmed Tuhcic said he hoped when the mosque was rebuilt in 2011 it would draw new returnees.

"In the two years since I have been here only one new family returned," he sighed.

In 2007 over 30,000 Muslims out of the pre-war population of 48,100 had returned to Zvornik municipality but in the last five years 13,500 of those returnees have left again, according to Mirhunisa Zukic, who heads a refugee organisation.

"People come back, but find themselves unemployed, and for administrative reasons have no access to social security or healthcare in Republika Srpska," Zukic said.

During the war, some 2.2 million people fled their homes. Now a little over a million of them have returned, according to the Bosnian ministry for refugees. Around 117,000 people are still registered as internally displaced.

"Ethnic cleansing has been very successful," Zukic said.

[rsdefwgxvcfdts]

Bosnian Muslim villages dying out

04 April 2012 | 03:31:04 PM| Source: AFP


A woman mourns during the funeral in Srebrenica, where 613 newly-identified Bosnian Muslims were buried. (EPA)

Refugee return to Muslim villages where vicious ethnic 'cleansing' occurred in the Bosnian Serb area of Zvornik was once hailed as a post-war success story but, twenty years on, life is petering out.

Key figures in the Bosnian war 1992-1995
Bosnia marks 20 years since war
Timeline: Conflict in Bosnia-Hercegovina

Add your comment

Many of the returnees have left again for lack of work and use their rebuilt houses as holiday homes, leaving only the elderly to sit out their old age on their native land.

Amir Kapidzic was one of the thousands of Muslims who returned to the area, which was the scene of brutal ethnic cleansing at the start of Bosnia's 1992-95 war, 20 years ago this week.

In 2002, he followed his grandparents back to his native village of Divic, which is now part of Bosnian Serbs' Republika Srpska, but he does not believe his three children will stay and his prognosis for the village is grim.

"In ten years there will be nobody left, the elderly will die and the young will leave. We will come to Divic only for the holidays," the 31-year-old said.

In the early months of the war, Serb paramilitaries chased the Muslims -- who made up 60 percent of the population -- from the Zvornik area. Over 1,800 people were killed and entire Muslim villages were razed to the ground.

In Divic, the militias came in June 1992 and bussed the women and children to Muslim-controlled areas. The men where taken to detention camps where around one hundred of them were killed. Among the dead was Kapidzic's father.

The pull of the homeland was strong when Kapidzic returned as a young man but relations with the majority Serbs surrounding his community remain strained.

"I grew up in Divic and returning here after the war was a given for me. But nothing will ever be like it was before after what the Serbs did to us," he said.

During the war, the area's abandoned Muslim villages in the area were inhabited by Bosnian Serbs who fled Sarajevo and its surroundings. In Divic, they tore down the old mosque and built an Orthodox church.

When Muslims started to return, the Serbs moved out. The church was taken down and reconstructed in a neighbouring village and a new mosque was erected.

The gleaming white minaret dwarfs Divic's scattering of houses, an increasing number of which are empty most of the year.

Husejn Tuscic was one of a dozen elderly residents gathered in the imposing new mosque for afternoon prayers. Like many here he has no desire to interact with Serbs.

"I have no contact whatsoever with Serbs. It is not worth the trouble," said the 60-year-old, who is still haunted by the year he spent in a Serb detention camp.

But what is killing the village this time is unemployment.

Kapidzic is one of the few inhabitants who has a job -- in a small workshop manufacturing aluminium frames -- but he said several of his friends had already left Divic to seek employment in the Muslim Croat Federation or abroad.

The village's young imam Mehmed Tuhcic said he hoped when the mosque was rebuilt in 2011 it would draw new returnees.

"In the two years since I have been here only one new family returned," he sighed.

In 2007 over 30,000 Muslims out of the pre-war population of 48,100 had returned to Zvornik municipality but in the last five years 13,500 of those returnees have left again, according to Mirhunisa Zukic, who heads a refugee organisation.

"People come back, but find themselves unemployed, and for administrative reasons have no access to social security or healthcare in Republika Srpska," Zukic said.

During the war, some 2.2 million people fled their homes. Now a little over a million of them have returned, according to the Bosnian ministry for refugees. Around 117,000 people are still registered as internally displaced.

"Ethnic cleansing has been very successful," Zukic said.

Many of the international Mujahadeen that fought to protect the Bosnian Muslims settled in Bosnia after the war and married local woman, they thereafter lived as peaceful good citizens and raised their children there.

Yet the majority of Bosnians have turned their back on true Islam and abandoned the Sunnah of the Prophet (saws) whilst the government of Bosnia has apparently sold out the brave Muslims who went to fight to protect them against the Serbs in those dark days.

They have done this under EU and American pressure and these brave Mujahids have been wrongly labelled as terrorists and extremists. Many of them have been expelled to tyrannical countries or have faced other persecution

The Bosnian have seemingly mostly turned their back on the tolerant Islamic philosophy of President Alija Izetbegovic (ra) and are ignoring the Orthodox teaching of Islam as being promoted by the wise and moderating figure of Mustapha Ceric

and it just looks like most of them have turned towards the EU and the West instead of realizing that a better future for their country would lie in connection with Turkey and the rest of the Muslim world.

please correct me if I am wrong anyone?

[Thomaswhitee]

Sarajevo 1992-1995: looking back after 20 years (1) Siege begins
April 1992

Tensions had been building for some time. When protesters were shot and killed by Serb gunmen at a peace rally in April, events quickly spiralled out of control.

The Serbs shelled civilian areas from the hills and battled government troops on the streets. Thousands fled but many remained trapped in the city. A deadly pattern evolved of random shelling and gun battles that caught out many who struggled to survive. Martin Bell reports on a typical day in June.

(2) Sniper alley
Hidden assassins

One of the most terrifying aspects of the siege was the snipers targeting civilians.

Hiding in high-rise buildings, the gunmen overlooked the front line, picking off unsuspecting victims on both sides. Women and children, firefighters, UN peacekeepers and soldiers were all killed by snipers. A UN report into the calculated use of snipers recorded that many were killed with a single shot to the head or heart. Martin Bell witnessed one such attack in July 1992.

(3) Cemetery blast
August 1992

No aspect of life in the city was safe. Even funerals were targeted by Bosnian Serb gunners.

As the daily death toll mounted the city's cemeteries quickly filled up and others had to be created. But burying the dead was not without risk. The BBC's Jeremy Bowen witnessed one such attack as mourners attempted to lay flowers at the grave of a young girl. As the siege continued mourners began to hold funerals under cover of darkness to lessen the dangers.

(4) Sarajevo airlift
1992 - 1996

With the roads around Sarajevo held by the Serbs, the only reliable way to get food, medicines and supplies into the city was by air.

The UN operation lasted longer than the Berlin airlift and kept thousands alive. But it didn't deliver what the city's defenders wanted - weapons. It was not risk free however. Planes were often fired on - leading to frequent suspensions. Four Italian airmen died when their plane was shot just weeks after Martin Bell filed this report.

(5) Grbavica
Serb-held Sarajevo

The majority of the city was surrounded by Serb forces but there was one area of the city that was controlled by the Serbs.

Grbavica was a mixed area but many non-Serbs were expelled. The frontline snaked around a series of high rise apartment blocks and along the river that runs through the city. It gave the Bosnian Serbs a toehold within the city but it was a dangerous place to be. After the war the area was incorporated back into the city. Martin Bell reports.

(6) The tunnel
City's secret lifeline

By 1993, with no end to the siege in sight, the government began to dig its own lifeline.

Basic supplies such as food and fuel were running low. Weapons were also needed to defend the city. Volunteers took several months to dig the nearly one kilometre tunnel under the UN-controlled airport to link up two government-held areas. Big enough for people to squeeze past each other at a stoop it eventually had wagons that ran on rails to improve its capacity.

(7) Market killings
February 1994

A mortar attack at 12:20 on 5 February 1994 was a direct hit on an open air market in Sarajevo, the single most deadly attack after nearly 10 months of the siege.

In all, 66 died and nearly 200 were wounded. The atrocity spurred the international community to threaten the Serbs with Nato air strikes unless they withdrew their heavy weapons from around the city. The Serbs reluctantly allowed their weapons to come under UN observation - but crucially, they didn't surrender them.

(8) UN in crisis
July 1995

Three years into the siege and the regular shelling of the city had returned. Despite placing their weapons under UN control in 1994, the Serbs resumed their attacks.

In May, the Serbs took hundreds of peacekeepers hostage after a Nato airstrike on a Serb weapons dump. They were later released but a government offensive to break out of the city saw a dramatic upsurge in fighting. The UN, stuck in the middle, was apparently powerless to intervene.

(9) The final straw
August 1995

On 28 August 1995, just metres from the first attack a year before, another mortar bomb exploded on a crowded market.

The attack killed 37 and injured 90. The atrocity came within weeks of the fall of Srebrenica where the Bosnian Serbs murdered thousands. In Sarajevo the death toll was rising. International reaction was swift. Within two days, Nato launched airstrikes against Bosnian Serb positions around the capital. The end was near.

(10) The longest siege

More than 10,000 people were killed during the siege of Sarajevo which lasted over three and a half years. Bosnian government forces were outgunned by heavily-armed Bosnian Serbs who held the heights around the city. The international community sought to stem the violence but it was often unequal to the challenge. WARNING: VIDEOS CONTAIN DISTURBING

Nato warplanes launch air strikes on Serb positions in pre-dawn raids. Air defences, ammunition dumps, communications facilities were attacked.

The alliance's heavily armed Rapid Reaction Force, recently deployed on the heights overlooking the city, also pounded Bosnian Serb gun positions circling the city. This is the beginning of the end for the Bosnian Serb siege. Within two months a peace deal was signed and the siege effectively was over.

(A) Historical Maps of Balkans
(B) Research and Documentation Center (Google Translation)

[goolen4you]

I dont know of any organisation who helped but you have raised a pertinent point.

When studying International Human Rights Law at Uni, i had to read up on the trial judgments on Milesevic... it was commentated that when the judgment was translated into French and English, the atrocities committed were so extreme, that some physically vomited whilst others refused to translate the judgment. Believe me, I have read sections of the judgment - the media reports of the acts perpetrated by the Serbs DO NO reflect the reality - they were worse than any mind could possibly imagine. May Allah accept the Shahadah the Shuhadaa, May Allah have Mercy on them.

[Thomaswhitee]

Brief Balkan War Guide

(1) War in Former Yugoslavia 1991 - 1995

(2) The former Yugoslavia was a Socialist state created after German occupation in World War II and a bitter civil war. A federation of six republics, it brought together Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Albanians, Slovenes and others under a comparatively relaxed communist regime. Tensions between these groups were successfully suppressed under the leadership of President Tito.

(3) After Tito's death in 1980, tensions re-emerged. Calls for more autonomy within Yugoslavia by nationalist groups led in 1991 to declarations of independence in Croatia and Slovenia. The Serb-dominated Yugoslav army lashed out, first in Slovenia and then in Croatia. Thousands were killed in the latter conflict which was paused in 1992 under a UN-monitored ceasefire.

(4) Bosnia, with a complex mix of Serbs, Muslims and Croats, was next to try for independence. Bosnia's Serbs, backed by Serbs elsewhere in Yugoslavia, resisted. Under leader Radovan Karadzic, they threatened bloodshed if Bosnia's Muslims and Croats - who outnumbered Serbs - broke away. Despite European blessing for the move in a 1992 referendum, war came fast.

(5)Yugoslav army units, withdrawn from Croatia and renamed the Bosnian Serb Army, carved out a huge swathe of Serb-dominated territory. Over a million Bosnian Muslims and Croats were driven from their homes in ethnic cleansing. Serbs suffered too. The capital Sarajevo was besieged and shelled. UN peacekeepers, brought in to quell the fighting, were seen as ineffective.

(6)International peace efforts to stop the war failed, the UN was humiliated and over 100,000 died. The war ended in 1995 after NATO bombed the Bosnian Serbs and Muslim and Croat armies made gains on the ground. A US-brokered peace divided Bosnia into two self-governing entities, a Bosnian Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation lightly bound by a central government.

(7)In August 1995 the Croatian army stormed areas in Croatia under Serb control prompting thousands to flee. Soon Croatia and Bosnia were fully independent. Slovenia and Macedonia had already gone. Montenegro left later. In 1999 Kosovo's ethnic Albanians fought Serbs in another brutal war to gain independence. Serbia ended the conflict beaten, battered and alone.

[Thomaswhitee]

I dont know of any organisation who helped but you have raised a pertinent point.

When studying International Human Rights Law at Uni, i had to read up on the trial judgments on Milesevic... it was commentated that when the judgment was translated into French and English, the atrocities committed were so extreme, that some physically vomited whilst others refused to translate the judgment. Believe me, I have read sections of the judgment - the media reports of the acts perpetrated by the Serbs DO NO reflect the reality - they were worse than any mind could possibly imagine. May Allah accept the Shahadah the Shuhadaa, May Allah have Mercy on them.

Before he begins his description of the atrocities committed by the Tatars during the sack of Baghdad Ibn Al Katheer says three times that alas my mother had not given birth to me and I would have been spared the task to narrating this.

Who knew, akhi, that one day we ourselves will be struggling to read similar accounts. We through up while reading them. That is the reason we do not gather courage even to read these things. You know how little we have written about Bosnia on SF. The reason is the same. There is a brother who posted a Bosnia related video several times here at SF and every time the number of comments were near nill. I did not watch that video even once. I suspect that the same is true for most of the other brothers. (O how can we even think of subjecting our sisters to view these things!)

Verily we are for our Lord and unto Him is our return.

[rsdefwgxvcfdts]

I dont know of any organisation who helped but you have raised a pertinent point.

When studying International Human Rights Law at Uni, i had to read up on the trial judgments on Milesevic... it was commentated that when the judgment was translated into French and English, the atrocities committed were so extreme, that some physically vomited whilst others refused to translate the judgment. Believe me, I have read sections of the judgment - the media reports of the acts perpetrated by the Serbs DO NO reflect the reality - they were worse than any mind could possibly imagine. May Allah accept the Shahadah the Shuhadaa, May Allah have Mercy on them.

The worse thing is that 99% of the Serbian war criminals (who gang raped women and girls (even babies), bayoneted pregnant women and threw babies at walls, slaughtered men and boys, shot everyone they could see moving inside Muslim towns using scoped rifles etc) have apparently simply gotten away with it, at least as far as the law is concerned.

Those who have been punished are only a handful out of many.

Because of this whenever I see a Serbian man aged around 40-70 now I cannot help wondering - "are you one of them or did you stay at home?"

[Thomaswhitee]

Because of this whenever I see a Serbian man aged around 40-70 now I cannot help wondering - "are you one of them or did you stay at home?"

If the Ummah was organized enough Nuremberg type court would have been in place already.

[goolen4you]

Before he begins his description of the atrocities committed by the Tatars during the sack of Baghdad Ibn Al Katheer says three times that alas my mother had not given birth to me and I would have been spared the task to narrating this.

Who knew, akhi, that one day we ourselves will be struggling to read similar accounts. We through up while reading them. That is the reason we do not gather courage even to read these things. You know how little we have written about Bosnia on SF. The reason is the same. There is a brother who posted a Bosnia related video several times here at SF and every time the number of comments were near nill. I did not watch that video even once. I suspect that the same is true for most of the other brothers. (O how can we even think of subjecting our sisters to view these things!)

Verily we are for our Lord and unto Him is our return.

Your comment is most true bro, just remembering it now makes my hair stand on end. I would have posted some exceprts but unfortuntely my laptop died and i lost all my essays and work. I'll see if i can locate anything as I still ahve some books left insha'Allah

[rsdefwgxvcfdts]

If the Ummah was organized enough Nuremberg type court would have been in place already.

There are only a few million Jews but over a billion Muslims. If the Ummah was unified even 1/4 and organized 1/4 as well as the Zionists are these criminals could be brought to justice.

After WW2 the Zionists hunted down many Nazi war criminals who had been missed by Nuremberg and tried them, I seem to remember hearing that they sometimes even kidnapped them from countries which did not help them catch them and were not supportive of their cause and then tried them.

[goolen4you]

The worse thing is that 99% of the Serbian war criminals (who gang raped women and girls (even babies), bayoneted pregnant women and threw babies at walls, slaughtered men and boys, shot everyone they could see moving inside Muslim towns using scoped rifles etc) have apparently simply gotten away with it, at least as far as the law is concerned.

Those who have been punished are only a handful out of many.

Because of this whenever I see a Serbian man aged around 40-70 now I cannot help wondering - "are you one of them or did you stay at home?"

NOTE: I strongly advise sisters not to read it, even though they perhaps should so they do shukr with increased vehemence for every minute, nay, every nanosecond they are alive, well and protected by the Most High.

I also strongly advise brothers not read the following if they are disturbed easily.

Read,

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Q...q=rape&f=false

last para on page 85.

Another book for further reading:

Review of the Sexual Violence Elements of the Judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Light of Security Council Resolution 1820

This article does contain some details but it is not for the faint hearted:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/itn/articl...191237,00.html

Finally, there are exceprts from the judgment in the following link and in other pages on this very resourceful website:

http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot....y-letting.html

This quote is from the above link:

"[W]e saw two Serb soldiers, one of them was standing guard and the other one was lying on the girl, with his pants off. And we saw a girl lying on the ground, on some kind of mattress. There was blood on the mattress, even she was covered with blood. She had bruises on her legs. There was even blood coming down her legs. She was in total shock. She went totally crazy.”


This particular quote reminds me of one incident I read when researching the judgment, unfortunately I cannot locate the precise part, but it described how sexual violence was intrinsically linked to the psychological subjugation of the Muslims. The example given was of witness testimony which described a pregnant woman and her child being beaten (the child was a toddler). The woman was resisting rape and so the soldiers shot the child in front of her. This sent the woman into shock and trauma and therefore, there was no resistance, one after the other the Serbs violated her, and then ripped open her womb with the blade and stamped on the foetus in front of the mother. She was left to bleed.

This is my final post on this thread because, in all honesty it took me a long time to get the imagery out of my head. And now its come back.

Wasalam.

[elton]

ASA,

May Allah (SWT) curse the Serbs for what they did to our brothers and sisters.

[rsdefwgxvcfdts]

NOTE: I strongly advise sisters not to read it, even though they perhaps should so they do shukr with increased vehemence for every minute, nay, every nanosecond they are alive, well and protected by the Most High.

I also strongly advise brothers not read the following if they are disturbed easily.

Read,

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Q...q=rape&f=false

last para on page 85.

Another book for further reading:

Review of the Sexual Violence Elements of the Judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Light of Security Council Resolution 1820

This article does contain some details but it is not for the faint hearted:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/itn/articl...191237,00.html

Finally, there are exceprts from the judgment in the following link and in other pages on this very resourceful website:

http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot....y-letting.html

This quote is from the above link:

"[W]e saw two Serb soldiers, one of them was standing guard and the other one was lying on the girl, with his pants off. And we saw a girl lying on the ground, on some kind of mattress. There was blood on the mattress, even she was covered with blood. She had bruises on her legs. There was even blood coming down her legs. She was in total shock. She went totally crazy.”


This particular quote reminds me of one incident I read when researching the judgment, unfortunately I cannot locate the precise part, but it described how sexual violence was intrinsically linked to the psychological subjugation of the Muslims. The example given was of witness testimony which described a pregnant woman and her child being beaten (the child was a toddler). The woman was resisting rape and so the soldiers shot the child in front of her. This sent the woman into shock and trauma and therefore, there was no resistance, one after the other the Serbs violated her, and then ripped open her womb with the blade and stamped on the foetus in front of the mother. She was left to bleed.

This is my final post on this thread because, in all honesty it took me a long time to get the imagery out of my head. And now its come back.

Wasalam.

Brother

The way the West stood by and let these things happen (and even took guns of the Muslims on many occasions) was one of final nails in the head of the coffin of any admiration that I ever had for the liberal-capitalist-democratic system.

Another fact that is often not mentioned is that the Serbian war criminals often did their crimes of genocide with the full support of the Serbian Orthodox Church.