Columnist Enis Veliu writes that the Serbian Minister for Communities and Returns in the government of Kosovo, Aleksandar Jablanovic, showed that he has the courage and political power to take decisions at the level of the Kosovo government and while he is being paid by the Kosovo budget, he continues to implement instructions from the government of Serbia.

Albin Kurti, the leader of the Vetevendosje Movement, and Nusrete Kumnova, the head of the “Cries of Mothers” missing persons association, told a press conference today in Pristina that a popular protest will be organized on Saturday against Communities and Returns Minister Aleksandar Jablanovic. Kurti and Kumnova called on all political parties and civil society to join the protest. Protesters will call on Prime Minister Isa Mustafa to dismiss Jablanovic for his insults against the mothers of missing persons in Gjakova.

The Pristina University students together with their professors and other citizens protested today in front of the Kosovo government calling on Prime Minister Isa Mustafa to dismiss his Communities and Returns Minister Aleksandar Jablanovic. “We are against all Jablanovics here in and Belgrade who violate our national identity,” said Arben Mehmeti, the President of the Student’s Parliament of Pristina University. He added that if there is real justice in Kosovo, Jablanovic should be legally prosecuted for insulting the mothers of missing persons from Gjakova.

The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) today has started collecting signatures of members of Parliament to request the dismissal of Aleksandar Jablanovic, the Kosovo Minister for Communities and Returns. Protests are being held in several Kosovo cities against Jablanovic who used the word beasts referring to protesters in Gjakova.

Minister of Communities and Returns in the Kosovo government Aleksandar Jablanović said that he supports the peaceful and democratic protests, regardless some of these protests are organized against him.

Lumir Abdixhiku, the Executive Director of Pristina-based research institute RIINVEST, comments on recent statements by Kosovo’s Minister for Communities and Returns Aleksandar Jablanovic. “A minister of my Republic – Jablanovic – ignores all killings [during the Kosovo conflict] as if he had lived far away from here, but that isn’t so … How is it possible that the whole world knows about the massacres committed in Kosovo, but a minister of the Republic, who has spent his life surrounded by massacres, doesn’t? What makes a Serb minister of the Republic to deny human fatalities?

Minister of Diaspora Valon Murati has asked for accountability from the Kosovo government regarding recent remarks of the Minister for Communities and Returns, Aleksandar Jablanovic. Murati said Jablanovic’s statements are in violation of the Constitution of Kosovo and offensive to mothers of missing persons in Gjakova/Djakovica. Prime Minister Isa Mustafa responded to Murati’s speech by saying that they were not in the Assembly and shortly after, microphones were switched off. The discussion however continued for another twenty minutes or so but it was inaudible to the media representatives.

After protests in Gjakova/Djakovica and the pressure from the media and the civil society, the Minister for Communities and Returns, Aleksandar Jablanovic, has received an order from Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa. PM Mustafa is reported to have put forward two options to Jablanovic: to either issue a public apology for his remarks about Gjakova/Djakovica protesters, or resign his Kosovo Government post. Sources within the Mustafa cabinet said Jablanovic is expected to choose one of the options during the week.

Minister for Communities and Returns, Aleksandar Jablanovic spoke to Radio Dukagjini following his statements about protesters in Gjakova/Djakovica who did not allow Serbian pilgrims to visit the city's church on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas. Jablanovic said he did not call the residents of Gjakova/Djakovica "beasts" but certain individuals who threw stones at the Serbian pilgrims. He also said that he was not aware of the large number of victims the city suffered during the 1998-99 conflict.

 The budget, which was adopted by the Kosovo Assembly without votes of the Serb MPs, does not envisage funds for non-Albanian communities in the province, stated Kosovo Minister for Communities and Return Aleksandar Jablanovic. He added that his Ministry does not have enough money to operate 2015. Without the funds, the Ministry cannot seriously held Serb and other returning communities in Kosovo, Jablanovic pointed. He reminded that there are entire villages of returnees that depend exclusively on social welfare and funds provided by the Ministry for Communities and Return.