Features

Muslim silence over Kosova

Crescent International

Rajab 06, 14201999-10-16

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Had the king of Saudi Arabia or a member of the House of Saud been insulted by the western media, chances are that all hell would have broken loose. There would be diplomatic protests and the Saudi ambassador from the offending country’s capital–London, Paris etc–would be recalled to Riyadh for consultations. The same could be said for other tinpot dictators in the Muslim world. The petty tyrants get all worked up over insults to their person but are unmoved by the plight of Muslims around the world.

The suffering of the people of Kosova at the hands of the Serbs is a case in point. It is important to bear some details in mind. The people of Kosova are overwhelmingly Muslim--more than 90 percent of them. The constant reference to them as ‘ethnic Albanians’ is a deliberate attempt to keep Muslims confused and detached from their plight. Would the media ever refer to Soviet Jews as ‘ethnic Slavs’? Kosova has never been a part of Serbia, notwithstanding the Serbs’ mythical claims to it. In the one of the most bizarre claims, the Serbs say that since their armies were defeated in the battle of Kosova in 1389--yes, more than 610 years ago!--they have a ‘historic’ claim to this land. Were such warped logic to become the basis for allocating territories, the Muslims would be more than justified in claiming Spain, Vienna and a host of other places in Europe. Muslims lost Grenada in 1492; they were at the gates of Vienna in 1683 but lost the battle. Or, the Germans could claim Stalingrad in Russia, because they were defeated there.

Even more disturbing is the Serbs’ falsification of history. Kosova has never been a part of Serbia. It was incorporated into the kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918 but so were a number of other parts of

Yugoslavia--Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovia etc. Even Serbia was just one of the constituent parts of the Yugoslav kingdom. For aggressors, however, falsification of history is no bar. They use whatever means they can to get away with their aggressive designs. This is a regular feature of life in Palestine as well where the zionist invaders tell blatant lies in justifying their landgrab.

Parallels have been drawn with the Serbs’ tactics in Bosnia-Hercegovina. True, the Serbs’ genocidal nature is all too evident. What they did in Bosnia on a grand scale is being repeated in Kosova on a smaller scale but with the same deadly intent. There are, however, important differences. The Serb population in Kosova is infinitesimally small to be able to permanently occupy major parts of Kosova. In landlocked Bosnia, the 30 percent Serbs occupied a core territory; Kosova has an outlet to the outside world through Albania. Thus, help can be delivered to them if there is a will.

That, however, is a commodity in short supply, at least insofar as the Muslim world is concerned. To their eternal shame, the rulers in the Muslim world have been silent as if death has overtaken them. There is not even the pretence, as there was in the case of Bosnia, of trying to do something to save the suffering people of Kosova. There have been no calls for an international conference; and no meetings of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference have been convened. Kosova, as far as they are concerned, might as well be on another planet.

Despite the Serbs’ brutality, the reality on the ground points toward the Kosovars getting their independence from Serbia. The Serbs in Kosova cannot hold the territory indefinitely and the Serbian army will not be able to crush the Kosovars’ yearning for freedom despite the current campaign of terrorism directed at them.

Given this reality, it is disgraceful for Muslim rulers to display their impotence rather than stand up for a part of the Ummah under distress. This simply confirms what we have repeatedly said in these columns: these rulers and their regimes are part of the problem. They cannot be a part of the solution. It is for the Global Islamic Movement to strive to get rid of these rulers and their decrepit systems so that the resources of the Ummah are used for the benefit of and to save the suffering humanity from further calamities and disgrace.

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