Srebrenica: Reconstructing the European horror

For the families of victims, the mourning will never end as long as they live, but for us, the rest of the humanity, its time to make some reflections on the events of the fateful 11th of July in the year 1995. This was the first and only massacre of this horrific proportion on European soil since the end of World War II, but its importance lies not alone in the scale of human tragedy but in that of legal and moral catastrophe. The principal casualties were the sanctity of international law, the morality of humankind, and the integrity of the United Nations, all of whom lay dead that day atop the human fatalities.

Although the mind and pen would tremble to reconstruct the gory events, yet to put this piece in proper perspective, the vignette behind the mass graves must be added. During the height of civil war in Bosnia, the theretofore little-known town of Srebrenica was declared one of the six safe havens by the United Nations. The victims of war were assured of the protection of the world community through the UN troops, while fighting raged on all across the length and breadth of Bosnia. The town's Muslim population had swelled to 40,000 as more and more displaced people came to save their lives. The UN troops took away the weapons from the Muslims as a precondition for UN protection. Around 1,500 Serb irregulars had been besieging the town for two years and there had occurred an alarming shortage of food, medicines, and other necessities in the enclave. Not so for the UN troops, who were seen devouring fried chicken sandwiches and listening to pop music day in and day out. And as the acme of shame for the United Nations, some were pocketing profits from selling their excess food to the invading Serbs. The inaction of the UN at the miseries of Srebrenica, although not surprising, was deplorable. Yet nobody in their wildest dreams had feared that the UN would eventually "midwife the death" of people under its protection.

On July 9-10, the Serbs breached the UN sanctuary and when the Muslims asked the Dutch UN peacekeepers to return their light weapons for self-defense, the same was refused. And as if this callousness was not enough, a stage-managed episode of 15 Dutch UN troops being taken hostage by the Serbs, and then released after the former had handed over their own weapons to them, was conducted before the victims were thrown at the mercy of the enemy. The apathy of the UN over genocide would have been reprehensible anyway, but the act of assembling and disarming the civil population under the bait of safe haven, and then exposing them to a duck shoot by rearming the invaders, is something so egregiously grave that there cannot be two opinions that the perpetrators must be brought to justice. Its never too late and it will be never too late, even if the trials may have to be conducted posthumously.

This time the civil society in Serbia is calling for a public apology, of confessing of the sins, and of atoning for them. The Serb people are rethinking history, trying to come to grips with truth and reality, and sifting heroes from criminals. Even today, a significant minority in Serbia proper does not believe that the Srebrenica carnage even occurred, but the proportion of such people is decreasing with each passing day. Hats off for the bold gesture of President Boris Tadic of Serbia, whose presence at the ceremony will have salutary effect even across the borders in Bosnia. The Muslim community worldwide must know that decency and morality are not solely Muslim preserves; all humanity is common legatee of the feelings of compassion and empathy.

It is time to admit that crimes against humanity have been committed in Europe and elsewhere both by Muslims and others, yet the total number of people killed in genocides and ethnic cleansing by the Europeans against its minorities, right from the Spanish Inquisition, through the Jewish holocaust, and up to the Srebrenica bloodbath, far surpass the numbers killed by the acts of terrorism against the West by the "others."

Admittedly, the numbers are hardly important since each human life is precious and must enjoy sanctity. Yet, if Osama bin Laden is taken as a state of mind, rather than a person, then there are Osamas galore in Europe as well. Muslims were involved in acts of terrorism, but theirs were mostly individual acts, not the acts of state. The criminals were hardly ever acclaimed as heroes, as in Serbia, and the Muslim governments were never failing in their resolve to fight the terror side by side with the West. If on the other hand, an impartial exhaustive inquiry is conducted on Srebrenica, as a case in point, it may not be surprising if the existence of a fairly broad-based conscience policy at some levels in the circles of power to exterminate Muslims from Europe, at that time, is traced.

Srebrenica, with its 27,000 pre-war Muslim majority is reduced to a 4,000-strong minority. The green coloured graves of genocide victims in their thousands, with crescent engraved on each, remain as witness to the Muslim presence of six centuries. With the homes of Muslims trashed, their assets trampled, and their mosques torched, the aim of ethnic cleansing appears to have been achieved. But this is not to be. Civility must have the last laugh over barbarity. It cannot be overemphasised, therefore, that the untiring resolve of the most of humanity for a just, better, and secure world should never die. The acts of genocide should be consigned to the dustbin of history and we should be able to look ahead to a peaceful coexistence of the human fraternity.

The civilised world should ensure that, one, the UN declares July 11 as world genocide day. Two, the Serb authorities pay compensation and damages to the families of the manslaughter. And three, criminal cases for war crimes be instituted against the then UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali, for his failure to resign, even if he was not directly responsible, and against the 600 Dutch UN peace keepers for cowardice, dereliction of duty, complicity in genocide, and gross contravention of the military code of honour. If they are not guilty, let them prove their innocence in the court of law along with the other suspects at the International Tribunal on former Yugoslavia.

Saad S. Khan is an Oxford-published author and a widely read analyst on politics, law, and governance in the Muslim world.