Resolution of the Assembly of the Islamic Community in BiH: We call on all citizens of BiH to preserve peace and the state

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Assembly of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at its regular session held on December 25, 2021, adopted a Resolution on the necessity of preserving peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the state sovereignty and integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina has affirmed itself as a distinct state, political, social, and cultural entity throughout its centuries-long history. Historical records confirm its separate development in various fields of state and social life, spirituality, culture, and art, thanks to which a unique Bosnian-Herzegovinian identity has been shaped, as an integral part of the broader European historical and cultural identity. By confirming its vitality and strength, our country has survived all domestic and international crises and upheavals and has earned the full right to develop as a free state in community and cooperation with other European countries, contributing to the universal values of peace, stability, and progress in the world.

In recent times, we have been following with concern tendencies in domestic and international politics that, fueled by destructive ideas of chauvinism, xenophobia, and national and religious segregation, confront us with the threat of new conflicts and divisions, as well as the annulment of all achievements of peace and progress that this country has made in the last quarter of a century. Irresponsible individuals and groups at home and abroad are fostering mistrust and intolerance among the peoples and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, spreading rhetoric and pursuing policies that could turn this country into a conflict zone, and deprive its inhabitants of the elementary right to live in freedom, without fear of new conflicts and suffering. An integral part of this rhetoric are the already seen efforts to stigmatize and dehumanize Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims-Bosniaks, as a people whose worldview is being attempted to be portrayed as incompatible with the heritage and values of modern Europe. Such actions aim to generate religious intolerance towards Muslims in European diplomatic centers and in the wider public, as a basis for obtaining support for the policy of breaking up Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sovereign and territorially integral state.

The malicious thesis of the so-called Muslim threat is best refuted by the undivided commitment of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims to European and universal human and civilizational values and ideals, evidenced even in the most difficult conditions of life under armed aggression and in peace, after experiencing genocide. This insinuation serves as a basis for new attacks on Bosnia and Herzegovina and as fuel for strengthening and spreading extremism, Islamophobia, and other assaults on the freedom, tolerance, and pluralistic being of our homeland.

Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as indigenous Europeans, today represent a mirror of Europe, reflecting its credibility in adhering to the highest universal and its own values and the credibility of its humanistic heritage.

We call on all well-intentioned people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of political, national, religious, or other differences, to make maximum efforts to preserve our two common assets – peace and the state, as a guarantee of a life worthy of human dignity for our citizens and peoples. We expect and demand from responsible political figures in the country, its neighborhood, and the world to respect the interests of the vast majority of this country's citizens, who are not interested in any new conflicts and divisions, nor in any political intrigues and crises that take us back to the past, but exclusively in a peaceful and dignified life, like the citizens in the countries of Europe and the progressive world live. They should especially respect the interests of young people and the future generations of this country.

We call on the European Union to grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina as soon as possible; on NATO to accelerate the process of accession to the Alliance, and on the UN Security Council to continuously extend and strengthen the mandate of EUFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to ensure peace and stability.

Twenty-six years after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, regardless of all the difficulties, challenges, and crises that Bosnia and Herzegovina encounters on the path of its modern development, it is essential to always keep in mind the continuity of the distinctiveness and the richness of the heritage that this country and its peoples and citizens cherish, as a guarantee, basis, and incentive in their modern political, social, and cultural life. Committed to full membership in the NATO alliance and the European Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as an integral and democratic state, has the historical, political, cultural, economic, and all other prerequisites for an authentic and creative role in the European family of countries and peoples in the 21st century," the Resolution reads.