How Bosniak Politics Lost Its Courage: Everyone Can Say NO Except Bosniaks!

By: Rasim Belko

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The Republika Srpska cannot accept migrants because it lacks the conditions for their accommodation, and in addition, there are security, health, social, and societal problems regarding this issue, said the president of the BiH entity Republika Srpska, Željka Cvijanović, today.

I don't know when I had the opportunity to be in complete agreement with the leaders from the smaller BiH entity, as I am today with Željka Cvijanović. 

Cvijanović continues her statement: "Neither RS nor BiH caused problems in the east, nor did they initiate the entire migration process," pointing to those who did, and are now lecturing us on being humane towards migrants.

Cvijanović even openly, as few from both entities and at the state level have, called on the European Union to protect its border where it is problematic, not on Croatia's border.

And now I am trying to listen to myself, to recall, and I cannot remember a single statement from the federal or state level where someone says we cannot accept migrants due to risks and lack of conditions.

For three years, Bosniak politicians have kept their heads in the sand, bowed under European blackmail and millions. And the migrants "multiplied," brought into BiH by human traffickers, Serbian and Serb police officers, and smugglers and criminals of various nationalities and profiles.

Today, we have several hotspots. Primarily the Una-Sana and Tuzla Cantons. Temperatures are rising, especially in Krajina. Everyone is at the end of their strength, and everyone has had enough of the migrant crisis.
Police and medical staff are exhausted and at the end of their rope. Citizens are in fear, locking their houses at dusk, carrying weapons for self-defense.

And the migrants, around the Una River, Bihać, and other cities in Krajina. Along the road, through the forest. There is little territory in the Una-Sana Canton where you won't encounter groups of people with backpacks moving.

Protests held at the end of last month in Bihać united Bosniaks who have been divided for three decades. Grandfathers and fathers stood on the same line with the same goal and said: "We no longer want to live in fear, take the migrants to Sarajevo."

Bosniak politics has largely remained silent to the pleas from Krajina. As in many things concerning Krajina.

But this plea could soon become a rallying cry. A wartime one, heralding conflicts and troubles.

When asked if war conflicts could occur in Krajina, the mayor of Bihać, Šuhret Fazlić, recently told Patria: "It's a strong word, but that problems could arise is evident, because it is an evidently sensitive area. We had a conflict here during the war, and I fear that it could now take on other dimensions." 

The question is whether Bosniak politics and politicians, if such a thing exists, are listening to the messages from Krajina. The fact that they were unprepared, unorganized three years ago, and did not deploy enough security forces to the border to protect the country from potential problems, they now use as excuses. But there can be no more excuses.

The trumpets announcing conflict are slowly increasing their volume. Whoever doesn't hear them is either politically deaf or lying.
However, let's return to Cvijanović's message from the beginning of the text. "Migrants will not go to RS, we won't let them!". Decisively, clearly, and loudly, says the president of the smaller BiH entity. The message from her party leader and member of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, is similar.

In fact, the message from all political factors from RS is clear and loud. There are no such factors in the Federation. I am not counting Dragan Čović; he is clear and allied with Dodik.

In Bosniak politics, the key issues are who will rule Sarajevo, the OSA (Security Intelligence Agency), where to employ whom, and which Sarajevo municipality to "conquer" in the next local elections. Everything else is irrelevant.
Where and how Bosniak political courage was lost is probably a question for academic research. But the problem is evident, and someone will have to start solving it soon. Because Bosniaks too easily bow to every message from the EU, without considering the background and consequences of those messages.

For example, all relevant world media, including the strongest international human rights organizations, have written about the Croatian police. They did not praise them; they wrote about the violence they perpetrate against migrants and various torture methods. Has Croatia changed its police's behavior? No, because Croatian politicians know what would happen if they gave in.

It has become an open secret in Sarajevo that some organizations, like IOM, through international politics, blackmail our police structures into not acting on the migrant crisis.
They don't even allow the authorities to ban migrants from moving outside the camps.

Migrants are human beings and should be provided with normal conditions in the places where they are accommodated. But they are mostly unknown persons, often prone to criminal behavior, and someone should ensure they do not pose a threat to the local population.

If Bosniak politics doesn't soon find someone who knows how to stand up and say enough is enough, areas with Bosniak populations could become ghettoized communities where conflicts arise between those who have arrived and those who were born there. If that happens, may God help us.