Embassy of Bosnia Herzegovina Screens Film “Qou vadis, Aida?” in Islamabad to Highlight Genocide in Srebrenica by Serbia

Tazeen Akhtar

Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Pakistan screened award winning film “Qou vadis, Aida?” at Pakistan National Council of Arts Islamabad in connection to 32nd anniversary of Independence Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ambassador H.E Emin Cohodarevic rightly pointed out , “The film is not only a cinematic masterpiece, but a painful reminder of the Srebrenica genocide, the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II.”

An estimated 23,000 women, children and elderly people were put on buses and driven to Muslim-controlled territory, while 8,000 “battle-age” men were detained and slaughtered by the Serbians under the command of Slobodan Miloševic. The so-called safe area of Srebrenica fell without a single shot fired by the UN.

“Qou vadis, Aida?” directed by Jasmila Žbanić highlights the horrendous atrocities the Bosnian Muslims were subjected to by the Serbs. The film won Lux Audience Award 2022.

At PNCA Islamabad, a large number of guests watched the film. The spacious auditorium of PNCA was full of the viewers from diplomatic community, government officials, former ambassadors to Bosnia, civil society and media.

Ambassador H.E Emin Cohodarevic hosted the event to apprise Pakistani and foreign friends about the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims by the Serbian military. In July 1995, Serbs committed the largest massacre in Europe since World War II in one such area, Srebrenica.

“It is not coincidence that we chose this moment to screen “Quo vadis, Aida?”, as we mark our 32nd year of independence, recognizing all of the stories, tragic and heroic, personal and collective, well-known and yet-to-be-told, that are part of my country′s history already, Ambassador noted.

H.E Emin said, “Aida′s drama and her emotions are the heart of the story. I would like you to take away the feelings and questions the film raises. How many things would have been different if we had more empathy and solidarity? Did this tragedy have to have such a terrible outcome?

Ambassador was hopeful that the film will inspire us to help others and to do good to and for humanity and to work towards making the world better for everyone.

Ambassador expressed his views on the current status and perspective of the bilateral relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

He shared, “It is an undeniable reality that the relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Islamic Republic of Pakistan are special: alongside the enduring link of the permanent support that Pakistan give to Bosnia and Herzegovina on its path to preserve freedom and democracy.”

” Our relations have an out of ordinary dynamic, they permanently develop and diversify. There no single field, either political, defense, economical, cultural or social one, where we not able to give positive examples and good practices, Ambassador continued.

Mr. Emin is confident that the friendship between the people of the two countries and bilateral relations between two governments will continue to flourish and achieve new heights.

He expressed gratitude to PNCA for cooperation in hosting the screening of the film, as well as Mr. Danish Iqbal, Honorary Consul of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Lahore, Mr. Asad Saleem, Honorary Consul in Peshawar and Mr. Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majid, Honorary Consul in Karachi for their contributions to the success of the event.

Here it is worth mentioning that President of European Parliament, Ms Roberta Metsola awarded the 2022 LUX European Audience Film Award to “Quo vadis, Aida?” by Bosnian director Jasmila Žbanić in June 2022. The Award builds bridges between political work and the creative work of filmmakers in Europe. LUX films echo through art the sentiment of the fight for civil rights, human rights, justice, democracy and freedom.

She said at the occasion “This film is a strong call for justice for the women and mothers of Srebrenica who witnessed the atrocious killing of over 8,000 loved ones. Such horrendous atrocities and such a crime against humanity must never be forgotten.”

Backgrounder :

According to Holocaust Museum Houston, although many different ethnic and religious groups had resided together for 40 years under Yugoslavia’s repressive communist government, this changed when the country began to collapse during the fall of communism in the early 1990s.

The provinces of Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, and war quickly followed between Serbia and these breakaway republics. Ethnic tensions were brought to the forefront, and people who had lived peacefully for years as neighbors turned against each other and took up arms. When Bosnia attempted to secede, Serbia – under Slobodan Miloševic’s leadership – invaded with the claim that it was there to “free” fellow Serbian Orthodox Christians living in Bosnia.

Slobodan Miloševic – Main Culprit of Genocide

Starting in April 1992, Serbia set out to “ethnically cleanse” Bosnian territory by systematically removing all Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniaks. Serbia, together with ethnic Bosnian Serbs, attacked Bosniaks with former Yugoslavian military equipment and surrounded Sarajevo, the capital city. Many Bosniaks were driven into concentration camps, where women and girls were systematically gang-raped and other civilians were tortured, starved and murdered.

In 1993, the United Nations (UN) Security Council declared that Sarajevo, Goradze, Srebrenica and other Muslim enclaves were to be safe areas, protected by a contingent of UN peacekeepers. But in July 1995, Serbs committed the largest massacre in Europe since World War II in one such area, Srebrenica. An estimated 23,000 women, children and elderly people were put on buses and driven to Muslim-controlled territory, while 8,000 “battle-age” men were detained and slaughtered. The so-called safe area of Srebrenica fell without a single shot fired by the UN.

Radovan Karadžic, the supreme commander of the Bosnian Serb armed forces

In 1994, NATO initiated air strikes against Bosnian Serbs to stop the attacks. In December 1995, U.S.-led negotiations in Dayton, Ohio (The Dayton Peace Accords) ended the conflict in Bosnia, and a force was created to maintain the ceasefire. Since the end of the conflict, the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague has charged more than 160 persons. Convictions have included Serb, Croat and Bosniaks, though Serbians and Bosnian Serbs have faced the majority of charges.

Ratko Mladic, chief of staff of the Bosnian Serb Army

In 2001, former-President Miloševic was captured, but he died in his cell in 2006. Radovan Karadžic, the supreme commander of the Bosnian Serb armed forces, was captured in 2008, and is being tried in The Hague on genocide charges. Ratko Mladic, chief of staff of the Bosnian Serb Army, was captured in May 2011 and is charged with 11 counts, including genocide and crimes against humanity.