GREATER SERBIA MOTIVE BEHIND GENOCIDE IN BOSNIA
The problem of Bosnia-Herzegovina is not an ethnic one; rather, it is clearly an attempt by Serbs to create a mythological and greater Serbia through the use of brutal force, and the genocide of the Muslims of Bosnia is being carried out with this motive, said Senator Khurshid Ahmad.
Speaking at the Institute of Policy Studies here on Monday, Senator Khurshid said it was a certified fact that Muslims in Bosnia were from the same race called “Slaves,” to which Serbians or Croats belong. In fact, one sect of Christians known as Unitarians, who believed in one god and did not accept the concept of the trinity, were the first ones to be impressed with Islam back in the 12th century in this part of the world. The states like Kosovo, Bosnia, and Sanjak where Muslims inhabited in large numbers, including other states of former Yugoslavia, were part of the Ottoman Empire. After the withering of the Ottoman Empire, the Muslims of these states suffered the atrocities committed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 19th century and at the hands of Serbs during the world wars, he added.
Even after the peaceful times after the Second World War, the Muslims were the worst affected at the hands of the communist regime. Every attempt was made to secularise them, and a cultural onslaught, like changing their language and their living style, was carried.
Prof. Khurshid said the present situation was not new, and it had only been noticed after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, which had one of the largest armies in Europe dominated by the Serbs, who constituted 80 percent of it.
Now Serbs were using this tremendous force to enlarge their boundaries, and they had already captured 70 percent of the Bosnian land. And the massive genocide of the Muslims in the name of ethnic cleansing is being carried out, thus assuring the European countries that Serbia will not allow any independent Muslim state on the continent, he added.
Prof. Khurshid criticised the attitude of proponents of the new world order who had claimed that any state which would violate international law would be checked with the use of force, but they are content with a so-called embargo, which is more harmful for the Bosnians as they are in a landlocked situation, whereas Serbians have all land, air, and sea routes open for them. Thus, the Bosnians continue to be slaughtered.
He expressed that the movement of Islamic revivalism, which was very strong in Bosnia, would now keep them fighting for their survival. Furthermore, Muslim states of the world, particularly Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Egypt, should take a stand and raise the issue at the world forum, and in case there was no solution, they should threaten Serbia with joint military action. This would make them stop their aggression, and Western countries would also sense the gravity of the situation and use their effort to stop Serbia, Prof. Khurshid argued.
Ho also stressed the need to mobilise public pressure in the Muslim countries so that they could put pressure on their governments and make them come out of their docility.
