Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said he feared a massacre similar to the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica could happen in Indian occupied Kashmir and urged the international community to take notice and prevent it from happening.
Speaking on the 25th anniversary of the massacre, the premier said he still remembered when the genocide had taken place.
“We were shocked and appalled how this massacre was allowed to happen in a United Nations safe haven. I still feel shock [over] how such a thing could have been allowed by the world community.”
In 1995, at least 8,000 mostly Muslim men and boys were chased through woods in and around Srebrenica by Serb troops in what is considered the worst carnage of civilians in Europe since World War II. The slaughter has been confirmed as an act of genocide.
Khan said it was important to learn lessons from the massacre and talked about apprehensions regarding occupied Kashmir.
“We see problems for the people of Kashmir. 800,000 troops have besieged eight million people of Kashmir. We are afraid that such a thing might happen there as well.”
He urged the world community to take notice and never allow such massacres to happen again.
“From the people of Pakistan I send my salam and best wishes to the people of Bosnia,” the premier said.
Echoing remarks made by the prime minister, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the world had a “collective responsibility to ensure that history is not repeated”.
In a tweet, Qureshi said that what was happening in occupied Kashmir and Palestine was “chillingly similar” to the 1995 massacre.
