I Believe in A Life Together

Mr. Komarica, a native of Banjaluka, who completed his elementary school education there and from there went on to the "great European schools", has remained a man of that region who simply could not understand how former neighbors turned against each other.

"In the name of God, what has happened to people, I asked myself at the beginning of the escalation of the horror. I kept saying: 'friends, neighbors, is it possible to forget everything in an instant, has all of this become normal to you'?", says bishop Komarica.

"I was hurt by the fundamental destruction of the ethnic roots of any of the peoples of these regions. I deemed it extremely necessary to, time and time again, raise my voice in name of the trampled, those deprived of their rights, in name of protecting each man, a member of any nation, anyone anywhere and in whatever way endangered, whether it be a question of one's life, one's property, freedom of thought, political conviction, house, homeland, finally, even his right to a conscience."

Bishop Franjo Komarica is convinced that the Croats and the Muslims from the Banjaluka region did not give any reason whatsoever for the repression which they were exposed to during the war years and considers the reciprocal principle as unacceptable ("and what have they done to our people there?") by which all three sides are trying to explain their conduct towards the minority nation on "their" territory.

"I cannot accept the rule that in Banjaluka and Krajina the banished and driven out Croats and Muslims should return only if and when the expelled Serbs return to their hearths in Croatia and the western parts of Krajina."

Mr. Komarica has greatly criticized the conduct of the international community, considering that they didn't do everything to "understand on time that people lived here, whose rights have been deprived, who were oppressed, people who had tried all through the war years not to prompt their fellow citizens towards harassment, mistreatment, assault on their property and lives which they were exposed to."

"I am convinced that Banjaluka is the best place to rebuild a life together, I am certain that on this spot neighbors will live with each other and beside each other again, if the political leaders stop manipulating the 'national will'. I know that there are leaders in all three nations who at this moment are forbidding their people to return to their previous residences. Temporarily settled people from Croatia come to me and beg me for assistance to return to Slavonia, Banija and Croatian cities. And I am incapable of helping them. What I can do is to turn them towards the road of believing and to their authorities, but I have the notion that the world political stage is still testing its skills on these terrains, that no move has been made from the declared words onto deeds which will truly enable the return of the refugees of all nations to all regions.

In a certain way, the whole civilization has been overcome by sickness, but the sick spot of the world community body is located here, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Which is why I expect that the civilized world will help us cure ourselves in order to protect itself of decadence, of destruction..."