The Kosovo Crisis: Perception and Problem
O.N. Mehrotra,Senior Fellow,IDSA
Since March 1998, the Kosovo crisis has been heightened again. There have been reports about increase in terrorist activities of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and repressive measures taken by the Yugoslav security forces against the Kosovo Albanians. The media, print as well as electronic, which are largely controlled by the United States of America and its allies, have generally projected a picture of the Serbs suppressing the genuine aspirations of the Kosovo Albanians who reportedly constitute 90 per cent of the population of Kosovo, a province of Serbia. The Serbs, who were earlier blamed for initiating "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, have again been accused of indulging in a policy of not only crushing the peaceful demand of the Albanians for autonomy in Kosovo, which was taken up by Slobdan Milosevic about a decade ago, but also of pushing them out from Kosovo. In other words, the nationalist leader of Serbia, Milosevic, who allegedly failed to realise his dream of a "Greater Serbia", has again been engaged in muzzling the democratic minority rights of the Kosovo Albanians. Thus, a distorted perception of the Kosovo crisis has been built up, and a
majority of commentators and analysts blame Milosevic and the Serbs for adopting an inappropriate policy in Kosovo for which they should be punished suitably since they failed to listen to the world community for changing their policy.
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