The head of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rais Husein Kavazovic, on Sunday accused Croatia of interfering in Bosnia's internal affairs and of pursuing the policies that led to "the brutal aggression" on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s by seeking amendment of the country's election law.

“Today we are witnessing political pressure on the political scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the same policies that in the 1990s carried out the brutal aggression against our country,” Kavazovic said.

“The issue of the election law has become a top priority in neighbouring Croatia, which openly interferes in political affairs in our country, exerts pressure on our people, accusing it of denying the Croat people in BiH political rights,” Kavazovic said at a convention of the Islamic Community in Sarajevo.

He noted that the pressure against Bosniaks was accompanied by “insults from the most senior state leaders”, mentioning explicitly Croatian President Zoran Milanovic.

Kavazovic said that he believed BiH needed better laws, but that they should be adopted by the country’s political leaders, “without threats being made by Croatia or Serbia.”

The Islamic Community advocates the equality of all citizens regardless of their ethnic background, he said.

“Bosniaks, notably Muslims, members of the Islamic Community who are involved in our country’s political life, should make that one of their main religious duties,” he said.

Kavazovic described the coming elections in the country as being of the utmost importance, calling on members of the Muslim community to vote for candidates “who will be capable of withstanding the political pressure.”

Zagreb has been warning that the BiH election law enables three and a half times more numerous Bosniaks to outvote Croats and elect their representative to the collective state presidency and deputies to the House of Peoples, thus violating the Dayton peace agreement of which Croatia was a co-signatory.

It insists on the implementation of the ruling by the BiH Constitutional Court that has contested provisions of the election law regulating elections for the House of Peoples. Despite months of talks and mediation by the US administration and EU officials, Croat and Bosniak political parties have not agreed on amendments to the election law.