Reconstruction
In 2001 a building permit was granted to the Islamska Zajednica Banjaluke (Islamic Community of Banja Luka) to reconstruct the mosque. On May 7, Serb nationalists attacked about 300 Bosniaks attending the ceremony to mark the laying of the cornerstone. The New York Times reported that about 1,000 Orthodox Christian Serbs participated in the attack and that they threw rocks and burned vehicles, a bakery, Muslim prayer rugs, and the flag on the Islamic center, where they hoisted the Bosnian Serb flag; drove a pig onto the site of the mosque as an insult to Muslims; and trapped 250 people in the Islamic center including the head of the UN in Bosnia, the ambassadors from Great Britain, Sweden and Pakistan, and other international and local officials. Bosnian Serb police eventually released them. More than 30 Bosniaks were injured and at least eight were taken to the Banja Luka hospital. One died later from head injuries. The disrupted ceremony took place on the 8th anniversary of the mosque's destruction, a date subsequently chosen as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s official Day of the Mosques. As this was also the date of the Serbian Orthodox holiday of Đurđevdan, it was alleged to have been chosen deliberately to inflame the nationalist feelings of the local Serbian residents. A few days later, in secret and under heavy security, the ceremony was performed successfully. But because of the earlier attack, reconstruction was not undertaken.
Although most of the mosques destroyed in Banja Luka in the Bosnian War have been reconstructed since 2001, Ferhadija is still a contentious issue. Work was delayed by the complexities involved in rebuilding it authentically. The Sarajevo School of Architecture’s Design and Research Center had prepared preliminary studies, and the cost of reconstruction was estimated at about 12 million KM (around $8 million). A local magistrate ruled that the authorities of Banja Luka, which is Bosnian Serb-controlled, must pay $42 million to its Islamic community for the 16 local mosques (including Ferhadija Mosque) that were destroyed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. However, this ruling was subsequently overturned by the highest court in Sarajevo when the Serb Republic objected to paying for the damage caused by individual people.
The site, with its original architectural remains, is listed as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. By Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina the building was placed under state protection and entered in the register of cultural monuments. The Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina to 2002 listed the Ferhad-paša mosque in Banja Luka as a Category I building under serial no. 38.
In June 2007 repairs were completed on the foundations that survived the destruction, and reconstruction of the masonry is currently well advanced.
Read more about this topic: Ferhat Pasha Mosque