Deputy Speaker of Bosnia's Parliamentary Assembly's House of Representatives told N1 that statements by Bosnia's Presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic concerning the country's arms industry development were directed towards the people working against the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic said earlier that Bosnia will not waste money on new missile systems and combat aircraft, alluding to the recent Serbian and Croatian acquisitions of arms. Izetbegovic said that instead, Bosnia will improve its arms industry and increase its production in case of a potential future conflict.
Following this statement, an urgent session was convened in the House of Representatives which no member of Izetbegovic's Democratic Action Party (SDA) attended. When asked, why this is so, Dzaferovic, who is also a member of this party, said that the whole thing was blown out of proportion and that the session was convened without a prior agreement among all parliamentary parties.
“Bosnia's arms industry is very lucrative and it should serve primarily for commercial purposes, and all of the context and significance of Izetbegovic's statement is contained in this fact. We will continue to strengthen our arms industry. Why is it problematic if he said that it can serve for the ‘God forbid’ events,” Dzaferovic asked. “This means that it will be used in case of an attack on Bosnia. People who don't have such intentions have no need to worry. We are not threatening anyone. On the contrary, we are sending a message to those who have irrational intentions towards Bosnia.”
Speaking about the changes to Bosnia's Election Law ordered by Bosnia's Constitutional Court due to unequal representation of peoples in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity, Dzaferovic said that there is still time to amend the Law.
“There is still time if there is a political will to amend the Law. I don't see the political will at this moment. SDA offered its suggestions on how to amend the Law. It will not be possible to amend the Law before the beginning of the electoral process, at the beginning of May, but it is not too late to amend it by June”, Dzaferovic stressed.
Speaking about the fact that the Islamic Community in Bosnia is the only religious community not to have signed an agreement with the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dzaferovic said that the two members of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Dragan Covic and Mladen Ivanic, have been refusing to discuss the agreement for years.
The said agreement would regulate the rights of Muslims in institutions of the state and in entity institutions and the legal relations between the state and the Islamic Community in Bosnia.
“There was simply no consent to ever discuss the signing of the agreement and Izetbegovic was forced to ask it be placed on the Presidency session agenda. Covic and Ivanic's statements that Izetbegovic was the one responsible for the fact that the agreement wasn't signed yet, are false,” Dzaferovic said. “They are false because Izetbegovic supported the signing of such an agreement with the Vatican and with the Serb Orthodox Church, without any hesitation. The least Ivanic and Covic could have done was to support the signing of this agreement two years ago.”
