A GREAT Harwood councillor is planning to embark on a perilous 63-mile walk to raise money for the families of 8,000 Muslim men who were slaughtered in Srebrenica.

Noordad Aziz visited former war-torn Bosnia earlier this year to raise awareness of the genocide of thousands of Muslim men there.

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The massacre, in July 1995, was carried out by the Army of Republika Srpska and was considered by the secretary general of the United Nations as the ‘worst crime on European soil since the Second World War’.

Coun Aziz said: “It left an imprint on my heart and I want to do more. In July, I’m thinking of going there for the 20th anniversary of the massacre.

“When the families affected left, they walked all the way to Tuzla in mountainous terrain.

“I’m thinking of walking that to raise money for the mothers.”

The annual ‘Peace March’, or ‘Mars Mira’, is a commemorative walk in honour of the 15,000 people who made the trip to escape Serbian persecution.

The three-day walk, which starts on July 7 each year, welcomes participants from around the world.

At the end of the march, from Srebrenica to Tuzla, they attend a memorial service and join in prayers.

During his earlier visit to the country, Coun Aziz also met the Grand Mufti, or leader of the Muslim community, in Bosnia, Husein Kavazovic and Bosnian president Bakir Izetbegovic.

While returning from his trip, Coun Aziz said he was given an important message from Stephen Williams MP, who was the delegation’s head.

He said: “He reminded us that we had a duty to tackle hatred and intolerance in our communities, and share the message of Srebrenica in our communities.

“Then Reshad, our Bosnian guide who had accompanied us for three days, gave the final message: ‘Don’t ever think it can’t happen to you. For 19 years I thought and believed that, and then one day it changed. I saw neighbours turn on each other’.”

Fuelled with passion from his trip, Coun Aziz helped organise an event to mark the ‘Remembering Srebrenica’ memorial programme at Blackburn Cathedral.

The event, on July 11, marked the 19th anniversary of the genocide.