The Bosniak Party (BP) caucus submitted to the Parliament of Montenegro the proposal for the Šahovići Genocide Resolution. They explained that the proposal for the Resolution on Šahovići Genocide was initiated by the Committee for the Centenary of the Šahovići Genocide, chaired by the head of the Islamic Community of Montenegro, Rifat Fejzić, and the vice president and academic Šerbo Rastoder.
“There’s no true confrontation with the past until we talk about all the crimes that happened and that burden a more prosperous future for all our citizens. A prerequisite for better relations is the determination of responsibility and a clear condemnation of all those crimes,” the BP said.
They pointed out that they expected MPs from other parties to treat this issue responsibly and support the mentioned resolution.
Here’s the text of the Resolution sent to the parliament:
The parliament:
1) considers that 100 years of “silence” about a mass crime against innocent people additionally strengthen the condemnation of that and every similar crime;
2) by being committed to the values of a multicultural and multinational society, condemns any violence triggered by religious or national reasons;
3) underlines that justifying “crime” as an act of so-called “revenge” is unacceptable for any legally regulated society and state. This is especially not appropriate for Montenegro, which in its customary law cherished the “right to revenge” itself against the murderer and his close relatives;
4) condemns every act of killing an unarmed man and the crime committed in Šahovići as an unprecedented event in Montenegrin history;
5) calls on the Government of Montenegro to provide the Committee for the Centenary of this crime and the numerous descendants of the victims with an appropriate location for installation of a memorial in the area where their ancestors lived;
6) stresses the need for the Šahovići-related facts to find their place and be present in educational programs and the teaching process as an unacceptable phenomenon in a civilized society;
7) indicates that it’s necessary to instal a special memorial to those Orthodox citizens, who can be proven to have saved at least one human life by their actions;
8) suggests to the local authorities in Bijelo Polje to implement their legal obligation and mark and permanently protect, that is, to adjust all Muslim cemeteries in the area of Šahovići and Pavino Polje;
9) emphasizes the importance and need to proclaim 9-10 November as remembrance days for the innocent victims of Šahovići;
10) pledges itself to continue strengthening awareness and public understanding of the facts concerning the Šahovići crime, in the same way as it did in relation to other crimes committed on the territory of the state of Montenegro;
11) emphasizes that today’s residents of the Vraneška Valley cannot be “guilty” of a crime committed 100 years ago, nor can the recognition of that crime be the basis for any change in existing ownership relations.
