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Former Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic, who died this week at the age of 78, will be buried today<\/a>, but the inter-ethnic Bosnian presidency, revealing how short Izetbegovic came from his dream of a united Bosnia, could not agree on declaring a national day of mourning. Eight years after the Dayton accords ended the Balkan wars, Izetbegovic\u2019s goal of creating a safe space where Muslims could coexist with Croats and Serbs \u2013 as well as find a role for Islam in a modern democracy \u2013 is still in doubt. While Bosnian Muslims regarded Izetbegovic as a \u201c father of the nation<\/a>\u201d who defended them against a Serbian-led genocide, Bosnian Serbs and Croats saw a Muslim fundamentalist<\/a> \u2013 even though the Muslims he led and the government he helped to create were secular. \u201cWithout him,\u201d commented<\/a> Western peace envoy to Bosnia Paddy Ashdown, \u201cI doubt if Bosnia and Herzegovina would exist today.\u201d Izetbegovic was jailed for nine years by the Communist-led Yugoslav government for Islamic activism, but after the breakup of Yugoslavia he rose to power<\/a> as Bosnian president with the help of the Bosnian Muslim SDA party. The bloodshed that followed the Bosnian declaration of independence in 1992 claimed 250,000 lives, until Izetbegovic, Croatia\u2019s Franjo Tudjman, and Serbia\u2019s Slobodan Milosevic signed the Dayton accords which created<\/a> the fragile balance whose stability depends on NATO forces on the ground. In his last days, Izetbegovic pushed<\/a> for reforms fromhis deathbed that would unite the republic\u2019s ethnically separate armies and received old friends<\/a> Bill Clinton and peace negotiator Richard Holbrooke. Izetbegovic was an advocate of co-existance between the Muslim and Western worlds, having authored \u201c Islam Between East & West<\/a>,\u201d which was one of the earlier books on Islam & democracy. \u201cInstead of hating the West, let us compete with it,\u201d said<\/a> Izetbegovic in 1997. \u201cLet\u2019s have a dialogue with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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