Zahir Pajaziti

Zahir Pajaziti (1 November 1962[1] – 31 January 1997[2][3]) was an Albanian commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). He was the first Commander of the KLA, known as "First Gun of Freedom". He was killed on 31 January 1997 in a gunfight with Serbian forces.[4][5]

Zahir Pajaziti
Statue of Zahir Pajaziti in Prishtina
Born1 November 1962 (1962-11)
Podujevo, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
(now Kosovo)[lower-alpha 1]
Died31 January 1997 (aged 34)
Vushtrri, FR Yugoslavia
(now Kosovo)[lower-alpha 2]
Commands held Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
AwardsHero of Kosovo (posthumously)

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, Pajaziti remained in Kosovo while battles raged in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the Tirana military academy in Albania he undertook military training and later with the ascension of Sali Berisha to power, his government arrested Pajaziti in 1995.[3] Later at two secret camps in Tropojë and Kukës owned by the Albanian army close to the Albania-Kosovo border, Pajaziti along with Agim Ramadani and Sali Çekaj organised military training for Kosovan Albanians.[6] Pajaziti joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)[6] in 1997. He and his group developed in the Llap region of Kosovo.[3] Pajaziti, Sali Çekaj and Adem Jashari were the leaders of the first Kosovo military groups, which were trained in Albania in 1991–1992. Pajaziti became the KLA commander for the Podujevo area and his deputy was Hakif Zejnullahu.[7] He was part of the KLA main staff.[7] Later that year, he was killed in a gunfight with the Yugoslav army in Vushtrri.[5][6]

In 2008, the president of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu, declared Pajaziti a Hero of Kosovo.[8] He is commemorated by a statue on Mother Teresa Boulevard in Pristina.[9][10]

References
  1. The political status of Kosovo is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Kosovo is formally recognised as a sovereign state by 101 UN member states (with another 13 states recognising it at some point but then withdrawing their recognition) and 92 states not recognizing it, while Serbia continues to claim it as a part of its own territory.
  2. The political status of Kosovo is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Kosovo is formally recognised as a sovereign state by 101 UN member states (with another 13 states recognising it at some point but then withdrawing their recognition) and 92 states not recognizing it, while Serbia continues to claim it as a part of its own territory.
  1. Qeriqi, Zamir (31 January 2023). "Zahir Qerim Pajaziti (1.11.1962 – 31.1.1997)". Radio Kosova e Lirë. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  2. "Rezistenca e 'Lada'-s ku u dhanë tri jetë". Raporto Korrupsionin! KALLXO.com. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  3. Pettifer, James (2012). The Kosova Liberation Army: Underground War to Balkan Insurgency, 1948–2001. Hurst. p. 69. ISBN 9781849041874.
  4. Judah, Tim (1 January 2002). Kosovo: War and Revenge. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-09725-2.
  5. Pettifer, James (2005). Kosova Express: A Journey in Wartime. C. Hurst & Co. p. 51. ISBN 9781850657491.
  6. Kuperman, Alan J (2002). Tragic Challenges and the Moral Hazard of Humanitarian Intervention: How and why Ethnic Groups Provoke Genocidal Retaliation (PhD). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. pp. 317–318. hdl:1721.1/36342.
  7. Schnabel, Albrecht; Gunaratna, Rohan (2006). Wars from Within: Understanding and Managing Insurgent Movements. Marshall Cavendish Academic. p. 179. ISBN 9789812104298.
  8. Milazim Kadriu: Zahir Pajaziti është një nga themeluesit e Shtabit të Përgjithshëm të UÇK-së
  9. Zubkovych, Alina (2017). Dealing with the Yugoslav Past: Exhibition Reflections in the Successor States. Columbia University Press. p. 158. ISBN 9783838269436.
  10. Björkdahl, Annika; Kappler, Stefanie (2017). Peacebuilding and spatial transformation: Peace, space and place. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN 9781317409427.

Further reading
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