BANJA LUKA BANJA LUKA, April 7 (Hina) - Ten years after the demolition of the famous Ferhad-Pasina Mosque in Banja Luka, one of landmarks of that north-western Bosnian city, a project for its reconstruction was presented last week.
The rebuilding of that mosque should last four years and cost 12 million convertible marks.
BANJA LUKA, April 7 (Hina) - Ten years after the demolition of the
famous Ferhad-Pasina Mosque in Banja Luka, one of landmarks of that
north-western Bosnian city, a project for its reconstruction was
presented last week. The rebuilding of that mosque should last four
years and cost 12 million convertible marks. #L#
Ferhad-Pasina Mosque was one of many religious facilities which
were destroyed in the Banja Luka area in the first half of the 1990s
during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, although that area was not
directly exposed to war activities. Local Serb hard-liners,
however, led a campaign of persecution non-Serb citizens -- mostly
Muslims (Bosniaks) and Croats -- and that campaign included the
destruction of mosques and other Islamic religious facilities as
well as Roman Catholic churches.
Thus in the city of Banja Luka all 16 mosques were razed to the
ground including two - the said Ferhad-Pasina and Tefderder Mosque-
which were listed in the UNESCO's world heritage.
In the area covered by boundaries of the Banja Luka Catholic
Diocese, 16 parish churches were destroyed, three of which were in
the city of Banja Luka. In addition, 23 chapels, six houses of
parish priests and two monasteries -- Petricevac in Banja Luka and
one in the town of Jajce -- were destroyed, too.
Clergy and religious dignitaries were exposed to harassment in that
period as well. Thus, one nun and two priests were killed in the
city. Besides, another six Catholic priests in the diocese were
murdered.
Besides, according to some reliable figures, from 1991 to 1995,
some 2,000 Muslim and about 500 Croat citizens were killed in the
city of Banja Luka.
After the war was over, the reconstruction of some of the destroyed
religious facilities started. The Catholic diocese managed to
rebuild parish churches in Presnace, Bosansko Grahovo, Kljuc and
Sanski Most. The Petricevac monastery and the other one in Bosanski
Aleksandrovac were also reconstructed. The repairs on other
facilities are slower due to a lack of funds and the fact that local
authorities in the Bosnian Serb entity did not give a penny for this
purpose.
A similar situation is in the Islamic community. Local authorities
in Banja Luka gave some permits for the reconstruction but did not
financially support any of such projects. Two of the destroyed 16
mosques in the city were rebuilt last year, but no religious
services can still be held there. The reconstruction of another two
is under way.
(hina) ms