prijava
SARAJEVO, July 28 (FENA) - Representatives of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily members of the PIC Steering Board, should condemn the threats made by the HDZ BiH representatives at yesterday's negotiations, which were witnessed by those present after the meeting, stated the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Šefik Džaferović.
"It is not something unknown to all of us that the HDZ BiH, with the encouragement of the Croatian authorities, has been threatening with violence against the territorial integrity of BiH for a long period of time, if the Election Law does not get changed according to their demands before the elections.
These are inadmissible threats that should have been dismissed from the start. Instead of resolutely rejecting these threats by the HDZ BiH, part of the international community accepted them as a "legitimate argument" and went on the path of giving in to these threats, to the detriment of the rights of a significant number of citizens," stressed Džaferović in his reaction.
"It is also completely scandalous that yesterday, the Government of neighboring Croatia, simultaneously with the threats that came from the HDZ BiH, publically issued a request to the High Representative Christian Schmidt regarding changes to the Election Law, in addition to the fact that the highest officials of Croatia have been insulting the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I call for a de-escalation of this kind of rhetoric by the Croatian authorities and the HDZ BiH," urged Džaferović.
According to him, citizens of BiH, including those that come from the Bosniak people, want peace and cooperation in BiH. The lawful authorities and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina were not the ones that had committed a joint criminal enterprise during the war, and we have nothing to be ashamed of or afraid of.
"The right to self-defense is a right prescribed by the UN Charter, and no one can forbid us to say that we will defend ourselves if someone attacks us again. We have not interfered in the internal affairs of Croatia nor have we threatened the territorial integrity of Croatia, so I call on the authorities of this neighboring country to stop, in synergy with the HDZ BiH, in public and behind closed doors, with the threats to the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina," concluded Džaferović.
(FENA) S. R.
