Justice Finally Arrives for Families of Those Who Perished in Bosnia’s Genocide, 1992

Bosnia. This serenely beautiful country in the Balkan peninsula isn’t just about medieval castles, cringe-worthy Dinaric Alps or plush lakes and rivers. Bosnia has, in fact, been home to one of the worst persecutions of the muslims ever witnessed in the modern 21st century.

Among the worst episodes of human atrocities ever committed in European heartland takes one back to the somber episodes of 1992.

Bosnia then, was an acrimonious plateau of hatred and bloodshed. The year 1992, a period history known for bringing liberalisation to many of Asian economies was for Bosnia a year to forget; a time sunken in bloodbath in the copious notebooks of history.

1992 will always be remembered for the great Bosnian genocide. In April 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia. But over the next several years, the Bosnian-Serb forces, with the backing of Yugoslavian army, targeted Bosnian muslims and Croatian civilians.

In the wake of the great Yugoslav leader Josep Broz Tito’s death in 1980, strong stenches of nationalism threatened to disrupt the unity of the Balkan States- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and, Macedonia.

The scenes of split were unreal as the world watched attentively the rapidity of Yugoslavia’s decline.

Chaos ran free and bewilderingly in the streets of Bosnia. This led to the merciless crushing of as many as 100,000 innocents. Among them, 80% were Bosnia’s muslims. Prior to this bitter episode, only the Nazi regime’s brutal destruction of Jews had made as many headlines.

Since 1971, the Muslims had represented the largest population cluster in Bosnia, even as Serbs and Croats emigrated in the years that followed. As the struggle for power over Bosnia increased, there arose hardliners like Bosnian-Serb Military Commander, General Ratko Mladic.

This exactly is the man blamed for the crushing slaughter of hundreds and thousands of Bosnian muslims even at the face of the UN declaring many ‘safe havens’ in Bosnia, once the country was divided between Croat-Bosniak Federation and a Serb Republic.

Described as a blood-thirsty warlord by many, Ratko Mladic presided over the elimination of 8000 young muslims. But, vindication for the mothers of all those persecuted in the great upheaval of 1990s Bosnia has been served as a legendary ruling has been passed by The Hague in The Netherlands.

It has been ruled that for committing gory crimes against humanity, Ratko Mladic has been served a life sentence, a fitting retribution for a man who was savage, cold and bloodless. Among the most heightened extremities in modern Europe is the unimaginable plight of the 1992 Bosnian Genocide, perpetrated by Mladic who shall now spend the rest of his life in jail.

While it is true that etched in the heart of the earth is a litany of barbaric crimes and episodes marred by ethnic cleansing but few have managed to cause such widespread reverberation as the unforgettable events that transpired at Bosnia. Finally, justice has been served, even as many would have to contend that it came after quite an emphatic wait.