Mostar Mufti Council: No threats will stop us from protecting waqf property

(Patria) - The Council for Religious Affairs and the Council for Administrative Affairs, at today's session, unequivocally supported the efforts of the Mostar Mufti Council and the Mostar Islamic Community Council in the processes of protecting Lakišića harem as a sacred space.

The Council demands that the competent city administration finally accept the legal and legitimate requests of the Islamic Community to build the "Mevlana" Intercultural Center on the only remaining part of the waqf of Ahmed-aga Lakišić.

"In this way, a shred of justice and respect would be shown towards the Islamic Community, whose property in the Central Zone of Mostar is ruthlessly seized, and exclusively one-national buildings are constructed to limit space and prevent real integration and a multi-ethnic Mostar," the statement from the Mostar Mufti Council reads.

The Council, composed of the presidents and chief imams of all local communities in the Mufti Council's area, expects friends from the international community to react promptly and prevent the usurpation of Islamic sacred space, which has been carried out for years in front of the world in the heart of Herzegovina.

"The Islamic Community once again calls on the Mayor of Mostar and all factors previously involved in this issue to enable the central zone of the City, i.e., the former dividing line, to become a place of intercultural encounter and dialogue, not a stumbling block and discord," the statement says.

Furthermore, the Council provided full support to the Mufti Council and the Čapljina Islamic Community Council in their two-decade efforts to return the Šišman Ibrahim-paša madrasa and its accompanying waqf to the possession of the Islamic Community.

The Council called on all members of the Islamic Community and responsible Bosniak representatives in the government and non-governmental sectors to finally get involved and provide their concrete support.

"The Council for Religious Affairs and the Council for Administrative Affairs, together with the Mufti Council and local communities, will continue the fight against the discrimination of the Islamic Community in Herzegovina.

No threats, distortion of facts, ignorance, politicization, or belittling will stop us in our honorable and honest fight for the common good and for the waqf property that our noble predecessors left us as a trust and for safekeeping. The fight for honor and dignity has no price," the statement adds.