Ahmetović: Lukač's announcement of "terrorist" persecution turned into persecution of all Bosniak returnees

Sadik Ahmetović, SDA Vice-President and SDA MP in the BiH Parliament, condemned yesterday's actions by the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs and called on the entity's authorities to stop the persecution of Bosniaks, returnees to this entity.

Ahmetović sent an open letter to the authorities of Republika Srpska, which the Patria News Agency is transmitting in its entirety.

- We Bosniaks, who returned to Republika Srpska after ethnic cleansing, genocide, and mass killings, are now all being treated as terrorists. This action from yesterday, in which 32 houses, returnee houses, were searched, has no justification. Bosniaks are in fear and feel like they did in 1992.

We do not support terrorism and we also want all three sides to condemn and distance themselves from radical movements in BiH. I have repeated many times so far that I am sorry for the murder in Zvornik, but if there are suspicions that someone is involved in terrorism, let the authorities do their job. However, such an approach, where houses of people who have never even entered a mosque are searched, where they are detained, brings no one any good. We feel like we are at the beginning of the war. That they are persecuting us again.

The statement by the RS Minister of Police, Dragan Lukač, made after the murder in Zvornik, that he would "persecute everyone," is now turning into an action in which they will not only persecute those suspected of terrorism. This has turned into the persecution of all Bosniak returnees to RS. This must stop urgently, because a selective approach can endanger peace in BiH.

As the former BiH Minister of Security, I warned about potential terrorist activities in BiH. I submitted reports to the United Nations and the European Commission.

Do not think that ordinary, normal Muslims support anyone connected to terrorism, and stop equating us with them. This is becoming an open hunt for returnees to RS and reminds us of the beginning of the war. We have no sense of security, and the trust we have built since the war is disappearing.

Therefore, I call on you to stop these activities further, not to attack ordinary, normal returnees to RS, because most of them now feel as scared as they did in 1992, and this approach to the so-called "fight against terrorism" brings no one any good, Ahmetović's letter states.