Translated by Fadil Kajtazi.
Newspaper report: “POLITIKA”, Friday 17, June 1987, page 9. Pasture dispute in Çakorr. DIRECT CONFLICT WITH THE STATE.
The shepherds return at night – does the municipality have the strength to enforce the law? Yes – with Kosovar forces, and with Montenegrin financial funds Plav – Çakorr, June 16. Imer Jashanica from the village of Firajë in the Municipality of Gjakova, last Saturday, the militia patrol expelled him together with his livestock and his family from Çakorri, to the place Kuqishte.
There the territory of the municipality of Plav ends, and with this the municipal mandate order was executed according to which Imer must leave the pastures of Çakorri. On Sunday, Imer was again in Çakorri with all the livestock. On Monday, Velko Paunović, a forest ranger, no longer knew how many Kosovar shepherds – without permits – were grazing their livestock in the pastures of Çakor.
Many have returned, even though the militia has expelled them. It is not known exactly how many there are, they are hiding in the mountains. The Big Landowners are returning them. Those from whom they bought the pastures (meaning the corrupt municipal officials of Plav who sold the pastures on the black market. FK).
I don’t want to get involved anymore, because even the security agencies can’t handle them, says Petrovic, whom the “Murino” cooperative paid a month ago to monitor what is happening in the Çakor meadows. The goal of the shepherds from Kosovo is to secure their own pastures in Çakor, Vaganica and Mokra. Since last year, we have sent notices to the neighboring Kosovo municipalities of Peja and Deçan that we will no longer allow illegal establishment of stables in Çakor.
This year, we are only implementing the law and the municipal decision – says Radenko Radeviq, mayor of the municipality of Plav. The fact that the implementation of this law takes on special dimensions, he says, is not our fault. He thinks that the dispute over pastures is developing between Montenegrins, long-time residents of Çakor, and Kosovars who have been occupying the mountains in recent years, coming across the republican-provincial border.
And now they are hoping that we will not have the strength to expel them, because the orders and mandates must be constantly implemented, so that the meadows are guarded day and night. But we will be determined – promises Orhan Rexhepagic, secretary for economy of the municipality of Plava. This issue is being politicized unnecessarily. We have decided that in the municipality of Plav, in all areas of life, we will implement the law, it is not just about the use of pastures.
We have banned illegal construction in Plav, we have established municipal revenues, we are fighting to implement the law on roads. The failure to implement the law has brought us to this point. What is happening now with the shepherds in Çakorr represents a direct confrontation with the state – explains Radeviq, who has also been the president of the Plav court for many years.
Deçan and Peja promised us that they would themselves prevent the shepherds from going to Çakor this summer. And when the militia wanted to expel the shepherds, their municipalities asked them to wait a few more days, because everything would be settled by convincing them.
Finally, the Plav militia had to intervene.Either they could not, or they did not want to, in Peja and Decani to convince their shepherds to respect the law. Now they are calling us again from Decani to wait, not to implement the orders and mandates. Thus, distrust has grown with the leaders of these municipalities – says Radobić.
