The women of Srebrenica gathered in Tuzla on the 11th of this month to remind of the genocide committed in that town. This day in their hearts is burdened with stronger sorrow due to the death of their heroine Hajra Catic. They noted they would continue where she left off.
The president of the Association of Women of Srebrenica, Hajra Catic, passed away last Tuesday, without finding the remains of her son Nihad, who was killed in the genocide committed in July 1995 in Srebrenica.
All the past years, Catic has been fighting for the truth about Srebrenica and finding the bones of all those executed in the genocide. She lived with a special desire – for her son under the nickname Nino to find eternal peace. Unfortunately, she did not live to see that, and the symbolism played with her destiny, so she was buried in her native Srebrenica, on the 11th day of the month.
Yesterday’s peaceful gathering of Srebrenica women in Tuzla, apart from reminding of the genocide committed against Bosniaks and the slowness of exhumations and identifications, was also used to point out the importance of Hajra Catic on their long journey to justice and truth.
“Our dear Hajra is being buried in Srebrenica today, after all the years of golgotha she went through. She never gave up, and she told me: ‘If only I could find my Nino before my death‘. That did not happen, although she did everything to find him. We visited her in Sarajevo on October 12th, she was not well, but we hopedshe would win the battle, ” Habiba Masic, a member of the Srebrenica Women’s Association, explained yesterday.
“She wanted the victims to be found and buried with dignity. I am sorry that she did not find at least one bone of her son to mark the place of his death. But fate turned out differently,” Masic added.
The bones of more than a thousand genocide victims are still being searched for, and mothers are dying without finding their loved ones. The women of Srebrenica said yesterday that they would continue the path of truth and justice that Catic started because it became their main mission after July 11th, 1995.
E.Dz.
Source: Klix.ba