Bosnia head mufti says Muslims most responsible for the country, others' rights

In a speech delivered before the participants of the Assembly of the Islamic Community in Sarajevo, Kavazovic said the situation in the country is such that it requires decisive and responsible behaviour from all those who care about BiH, and this applies especially to Muslim believers.

“As the most numerous people, we must show that every citizen of this country should be equally free and respected. Our faith teaches us to wish for others what we wish for ourselves, and not to do unto others what we would not want done to us,” he said.

Kavazovic criticised officials who identify as Muslims but behave irresponsibly and fail to fulfil the duties entrusted to them.

He told the faithful that BiH as a state is facing great challenges that threaten its survival, and that the willingness and ability to resolve this crisis must first and foremost be shown by those who live in the country, and only then should help be sought from the international community.

“We are witnessing the political and security crisis in our homeland of Bosnia and Herzegovina continuing to deepen. We are faced with the fact that the constitutional and legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina is being attacked, brutally and publicly, contrary to the general modern political practices of the democratic world, in full view of all those who are obliged to protect that order and the territorial integrity of our country. Apart from verbal reactions, every other kind of action has been absent, and this has been going on for more than a month,” said Kavazovic.

He was referring to the crisis caused by the attempts of the authorities of Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity in BiH, to block the functioning of the state in response to a court ruling in which the entity’s President, Milorad Dodik, was given a non-final sentence of one year in prison for failing to implement decisions made by the international community's High Representative in BiH.