Sir, - I was gravely offended by the comments on Kosovo by Tariq Ali published in your edition of November 15th (Eye on the 20th Century). He claims that "the numbers of Kosovan victims did not even reach 1,000, let alone the genocide and the holocaust imagery that was used by the press and television networks to justify an unnecessary war".
Let me put the record straight. The statistics that Tariq Ali has used are totally at odds with the figures produced by the International Crime Tribunal and presented to the UN Security Council in New York by Madame Corla Del Ponte on Wednesday, November 10th. In excess of 4,266 bodies have been discovered in mass graves. Also, according to KMDLNJ, The Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, 9,800 bodies have been found up to November 15th. This number is expected to reach 13,000. On top of that the numbers of disappeared are 4,000 and 1,800 people have been taken to prison in Serbia.
In the name of all Kosovar Albanians living in Ireland who wish to honour the memory of their kinsfolk who were brutally murdered thank you for allowing me to present the true facts. - Yours, etc.,
Merita Ferizi, Rathcoran House, Baltinglass, Co Wicklow.