SARAJEVO: Bosnia’s first census since its 1990s inter-ethnic war, which could dramatically alter the balance of power between the three main ethnic groups, poses a particular quandary for the country’s Muslims.

The 1995 Dayton peace agreement introduced a political system in which Muslims — known as Bosniaks — along with Serbs and Croats are the Balkan country’s “constituent peoples” and the only ones with access to top state and legislative positions.

For months political and religious leaders of the three groups have been urging their respective communities to declare their ethnicity in the census, which begins on Tuesday and runs to Oct 15.

Leaders of Bosniaks, the largest ethnic group, have launched a major push to convince fellow citizens of the importance of ticking the “Bosniak” box.

“You should know that the issue of our identity is the issue of our survival!”, a well-known Bosnian Muslim intellectual, Muhamed Filipovic, told several hundred people at a pre-census gathering in the capital Sarajevo.

The fear is that some Bosnian Muslims will declare themselves as Bosniaks, others as Muslims — their label under the former Yugoslavia — and still others simply as Bosnians, meaning citizens without an ethnic affiliation.

“The mixture of these three terms leads to confusion among Bosniaks,” said Senadin Lavic, a sociologist, adding that his Bosniak community could become a victim by being “diluted into three groups.” Serbs and Croats can also opt for the simple designation of “Bosnian” — which many are expected to do as a way of protesting Bosnia-Hercegovina’s enforced ethnic divisions.

This group, including many who are in mixed marriages, accounts for around 20 per cent of the population, according to some surveys. The census would count them as “others”, since the constitution recognises only the three main ethnic groups.

Under the internationally brokered Dayton accords, some 180,000 political and civil service positions have been allocated in proportion to the size of each ethnic group, based on the pre-war 1991 census, while top jobs are reserved exclusively for Muslims, Croats and Serbs.Darko Brkan, head of a coalition of associations for young people from all over Bosnia called Jednakost (Equality), said their goal was to lodge a “protest against discrimination of the ‘others’.” “We want to show that in Bosnia there are a lot of people who disagree

with its political system and who want to change it,” he said.

I REFUSE TO BE PIGEONHOLED: Sabina Jamakovic, 28-year-old pharmacist in Sarajevo, asked, “How can they reduce us to only one identity? I may feel I’m a member of one

ethnic group, but I will not declare myself as such in the census because I refuse to be pigeonholed and then misused for political

purposes,” she said.

But a Sarajevo University student, Admir Hasic, expressed wariness. “We should be very careful. Someone wants to divide us (Muslims) into several groups and to reduce our importance,” he said. “Croats and Serbs have no dilemma how to declare themselves, neither should we.” Pensioner Senada Milisic, a devout Muslim, said she wanted to identify herself as she feels — as a Bosnian who follows the Muslim faith.

“But now we are advised to declare ourselves as Bosniaks... I am confused and frightened, feeling it will be wrong whatever I eventually say,” Milisic told AFP.

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights deemed Bosnia’s constitution discriminatory against other ethnic groups, notably Jews and Roma, in 2009, ordering Bosnia to amend it, but this has not been done.

Bosnia held its last census in 1991, when it was one of six republics making up Yugoslavia. At the time it had population of 4.4 million — 43.5 per cent were Muslims, 31.2 per cent Serbs and 17.4 per cent Croats — and the three groups were scattered throughout Bosnia.

The war that erupted following the break-up of Yugoslavia claimed some 100,000 lives, and half of the pre-war population fled their homes.

The conflict led to each ethnic group becoming concentrated in separate zones, many forced to move by another ethnic group’s military strategy of ethnic cleansing.

Bosnia today remains deeply divided along ethnic lines, split between two highly-autonomous entities — the Serbs’ Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation — linked by weak joint institutions.

Political analyst Enver Kazaz predicted that the census, however it turns out, will not

bring about major changes to the country’s organisation.

“This monstrous peace deal made Bosnia a country composed of three ethnic groups, and this can be changed only at a new international conference... or with another bloody war,” he warned.—AFP