31st anniversary of Operation 'Pretis' and anniversary of Safet Hadžić's death marked

(Patria) - Numerous delegations, family members, and comrades today paid tribute and laid flowers to mark the 31st anniversary of the death of "Golden Lily" Safet Hadžić and his comrades Sead Velić and Nermin Zeljković.

Flowers were first laid at the Memorial dedicated to Safet Hadžić in front of the Novi Grad Sarajevo Municipality building, and then at the memorial plaque located within the premises of the "Pretis" company at the site where the late Hadžić and his comrades fell, as well as at the freight gate of the "Pretis" company, recalling the operation of the members of the Special Unit Bosna of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The delegation of Sarajevo Canton was led today by the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Omer Osmanović, who, speaking about the culture of remembrance, emphasized that the hero Safet Hadžić marked an era of the defense-liberation war.

"As a society, we owe a lot to the greatest heroes who put their homeland before their own lives, thus obligating us and future generations to speak about them, to remember them not only us, but also our children," said Minister Osmanović.

Minister Osmanović expressed special gratitude to the members of the Special Police Unit 'Bosna', while also stating that such commemorations must be better attended.

"Thanks to the members of the Special Police Unit 'Bosna' in the 'Pretis' operation, weapons were seized without a single shot fired, which would prove to be crucial in the defense of the city of Sarajevo. General Safet Hadžić and his comrades lost their lives the following morning, in activities that followed the completion of the special forces' operation. Unfortunately, he did not return from that operation, but the fight he started then continues today, certainly in different forms, but it is still ongoing. What we should work on together is to make days like today non-working days, so that more people can pay tribute to our heroes, because they deserve no less. The present preserves those who invested their lives in the foundations of the state, and it is the obligation of our future to remember our heroes," Minister Osmanović conveyed on this occasion.

Safet Hadžić was among the first organizers of the resistance of Bosnian-Herzegovinian patriots who opposed the division of the country and organized the Patriotic League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He died on April 18, 1992, during an operation to seize weapons at the "Pretis" defense industry factory in Vogošća. At that time, he held the position of president of the Crisis Staff of the Patriotic League for the Sarajevo region.

He was posthumously awarded the rank of Brigadier General and was decorated with the highest wartime recognition "Golden Lily" in 1992, and the "Order of the Hero of the Liberation War" in 1994.