Arifagić: State leadership ignores white ribbons of Prijedor, SDA will show whether they are traitors

By: Ernad Metaj

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The Day of White Ribbons is always distressing for businessman and president of the Regional Committee of the Platform for Progress Vrbas, Jusuf Arifagić. Above all, because of the memory of 102 murdered children, the persecution and killing of civilians, but also the fear of what the future holds in the RS and BiH, where a political tragedy is unfolding that results in the new disappearance of people.

- After the war tragedy that manifested in Prijedor through genocide, as in Srebrenica, only that here it lasted longer and claimed fewer victims, we are now witnessing a new exodus of people. Both Bosniaks and Serbs are disappearing, the young are leaving across the border, the elderly to the graves, leaving behind empty homes and abandoned fields, Arifagić told Patria.

The attitude towards the greatest tragedy in BiH after Srebrenica, according to Arifagić, has not changed politically in 30 years. The attitude of the Serbian authorities towards these crimes is best illustrated by the fact that a monument to the murdered children of Prijedor has never been erected. In these 30 years, the commemoration of the great crime has become freer, but that is not enough to draw lessons from the unfortunate past. Besides the official policy in the RS, Arifagić also sees responsibility in the FBiH and the state leadership of BiH.

- I am pleased by the fact that new generations of Serbs have grown up in the RS who understand what kind of tragedy this is. The problem is the official policy, which in Prijedor was among the first to open the door to return because the city had a financial interest through the reconstruction of houses and the arrival of the diaspora. The authorities in Prijedor have changed, we have indications that the attitude towards commemorating the crime could also change, and this is also evident from the fact that Kozarski vjesnik this year for the first time published the names of all the murdered children. What pains me is the fact that political representatives from the FBiH and the state leadership in a certain way underestimate and ignore the tragedy and crimes in Prijedor, Arifagić believes.

He regrets that the state political leadership does not come to Tomašica and does not contribute to fully investigating the fate of the missing in Prijedor. He believes that religious leaders could have done more to build a new future in these areas through understanding of the tragedy.

-  The state leadership does not come to the commemoration in Prijedor, there are no ambassadors. The greatest tragedy after Srebrenica deserves a different attitude, it deserves that the place of suffering be marked, says Arifagić.

Returnees and the diaspora have ensured through their efforts that the commemoration is dignified every year, and Arifagić believes that through joint efforts they will also complete the story of building a monument to the fallen children. As a businessman, he became politically active because he believes that a monument must also be symbolically erected to the policies that continued the devastation of the state and society after the war.

-    My opinion is that 2022 is a key year for BiH if a turning point is to be made. It is time to stop blaming each other for the 1990s and turn to the economy as a common denominator. Without new jobs, investment in agriculture, which can provide 2/3 of food for the whole of BiH, it will not be good, neither for the RS nor for BiH. We all know that nothing will come from the division of the state, that there are no new wars in the Balkans, and the only thing left for us is to decide whether we want citizens to live well or not, says Arifagić.

He sincerely believes that the third bloc in the RS, initiated by the Vice President of the SDP, Vojin Mijatović, and in which Arifagić accepted to be one of the main figures, is the only real alternative to the current situation. 

-    I have good relations with all businessmen, especially farmers in the RS and BiH. I am glad that someone like Vojin Mijatović has appeared, who is ready to build different relations among peoples, and I believe that through the third bloc project we can awaken civic consciousness in the RS. On the other hand, the diaspora from BiH must finally understand that they have a responsibility for the future of BiH. If at least two hundred thousand of them set aside one day and come to their city to vote, things can fundamentally change, says Arifagić.

According to his opinion, it remains to be seen what the SDA will do. He says that at the first joint meeting they gave declarative support to the new political approach in the RS, but did not clearly state their position.

- I think this project has no alternative. If the SDA decides not to participate in it, then I believe it will finally become clear to the citizens that they are traitors and that they do not care about a unified BiH, said Arifagić.

In that case, Arifagić fears that in the foreseeable future in Kozarac, which is a symbol of return to the RS, there will be no one with whom he could have a coffee.