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]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Zahir Pajaziti
Statue of Zahir Pajaziti in Prishtina
Born	1 November 1962 (1962-11) Podujevo, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo)
Died	31 January 1997 (aged 34) Vushtrri, FR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo)
Rank	Commander
Commands held	Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
Awards	Hero of Kosovo (posthumously)

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Zahir Pajaziti was born in the village of Turuçicë in Besiana, he hailed originally from the village of Orllan in the Gollak Highlands, where he also grew up in.^[6] His father, Qerimi, and mother, Fatimja, had raised their five sons and two daughters with great difficulty, also enabling their education. He completed primary school in his hometown. In the 1976-1977 school year, he enrolled in the Police High School in Vushtrri. Even though he was an attentive and smart student in lessons, in the second year of teaching, the principal expelled him from the school on the pretext that he had not respected the school's disciplinary order.^[1]

He completed the second year of secondary schooling in Orllan, while the last two years he finished at the educational center "8 Nëntori" in Besiana. In the summer of 1980, together with two of his friends, Raif Sfishta and Nexhmi Dabinovci, goes to the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. He had crossed the border illegally through the Buna river. He stayed there for 18 days. After returning from Albania, Zahiri was tortured by Yugoslav Security inspectors.^[1]

In the 1981-1982 school year, Zahir Pajaziti enrolled in the English Language Department of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Pristina.^[1]

When the progressive youth demonstrations broke out in March and April 1981, in Pristina, Zahiri took an active part in them. A year later, before starting his second year of studies, he received an invitation to be recruited into the Yugoslav army. After completing the first twelve months of this service, he used the right to pause, to later complete the following three months in Belgrade, in 1985. At that time, Zahir was aware of the systematic repression and violence exercised by the regime, especially against Albanian recruits, who were punished and in some cases even killed by the hands of the secret service of the Yugoslav army (KOS).^[1]

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.^[7] Pajaziti joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)^[7] in 1994. 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.^[8] He was part of the KLA main staff.^[8] Later that year, he was killed in a gunfight with the Yugoslav army in Vushtrri.^[5][7]

In 2008, the president of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu, declared Pajaziti a Hero of Kosovo.^[9] He is commemorated by a statue on Mother Teresa Boulevard in Pristina.^[10][11]

• Kosovo Liberation Army