Pakistan declared in a meeting of Muslim countries at Geneva in July 1995 that the UN arms embargo was illegal. Farooq Leghari, then president of Pakistan, stated that 'the Western policy of appeasement of the Serbian aggressors is not going to pay.' Pakistan subsequently declared that it would provide weapons to the Bosnian government in spite of the UN arms embargo. Pakistan became the fourth largest contributor of troops to the UN peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and pledged to keep its soldiers there to protect Bosnian Muslims and confront the Serbs while France and other countries wanted to withdraw their troops for the safety of their soldiers.[2][3]
Nasir later confessed that, despite the UN arms embargo in Bosnia, the ISI airlifted anti-tank weapons and missiles to ARBiH which turned the tide in favor of Bosniaks and forced the Serbs to lift the siege.[4][5][6][7][8] In 2011, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia demanded the custody of the former ISI director for his alleged support to forces of the Bosnian government against the Army of Republika Srpska in the 1990s, the Government of Pakistan has refused to hand Nasir to the UN tribunal, citing poor health.[9]
During the height of the conflict, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry evacuated many endangered Bosnians from the conflict areas who immigrated to Pakistan. The small nature of the program was mentioned and highlighted in the Pakistani drama, Alpha Bravo Charlie in 1998. Since then, foreign relations have improved between Pakistan and Bosnia.
^Abbas, Hassan (2015). Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror. Routledge. p. 148. ISBN978-1-317-46328-3. Javed Nasir confesses that despite the U.N. ban on supplying arms to the besieged Bosnians, he successfully airlifted sophisticated antitank guided missiles which turned the tide in favour of Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to lift the siege. Under his leadership the ISI also got involved in supporting Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang Province, rebel Muslim groups in the Philippines, and some religious groups in Central Asia.
^Schindler, John R. Unholy Terror. Zenith Imprint. p. 154. ISBN978-1-61673-964-5. Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, the supporters of the Afghan Mujahidin in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s, violated the UN embargo and provided Bosnian Muslims with sophisticated antitank guided missiles.
