RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN BOSNIA ADVOCATE CO-EXISTENCE AND PEACE

( Editorial: --> 3304 ) SARAJEVO, Feb 20 (Hina) - Heads of the four biggest religious communities in Bosnia-Herzegovina confirmed their readiness to continue working towards permanent peace in the country, and called on the international community to contribute more to their efforts. At a meeting with officials of international organisations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and accredited ambassadors, members of the Inter-Religion Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina stressed in Sarajevo on Thursday that their common goal was the implementation of the Dayton Agreement. The Inter-Religion Council was established last July and it comprises of the Archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, Reis-Ul-Ulema of the Islam Community, Mustafa Ceric, the Sarajevo Mitropolitan Nikolaj Mrdja, and the president of the Jewish Community, Jakob Finci, who is also the chairman of the Council. Ceric suggested on Thursday that the heads of the four largest religious communities in Bosnia-Herzegovina should visit all the places in Bosnia to which there was no possibility for refugees to return, in order to personally instigate the process. Mitropolitan Nikolaj called on the people to show their readiness to coexist through concrete acts. He showed restraint in his reaction to the suggestion of the deputy to the International High representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hans Schumacher, that the members of the Inter-Religion Council should support the construction of destroyed religious buildings in Bosnia-Herzegovina as a concrete sign of good will. "We do not need constructions, because first we have to construct a church in the people themselves," Nikolaj said. However, Puljic wholeheartedly hailed the idea, calling on the people to right the wrongs done in the war, which would be possible only if every person returned to his home. Finci said the truth and justice should lead to reconciliation and coexistence. (hina) lm mm 201049 MET feb 98