The pre-dawn abduction of over 300 school girls by Islamic extremists in Nigeria more than two weeks ago has forced an outraged world to take notice of the increasing sway of fundamentalist forces in the African nation. With the hapless girls still in captivity amid reports about the victims being sold as brides to militants for a pittance, raped or taken to other countries, the rest of the world has reacted with stunned disbelief and horror while the US has pledged help to rescue the missing girls. Washington is also offering security, communications facilities and intelligence aid for the fight against Boko Haram, the terrorist group feared to be responsible for the crime.
Boko Haram, which regards Western education as “sinful”, is a Nigerian militant outfit linked to al-Qaeda. In February, its members had murdered 59 schoolboys. The abduction is a reminder of how pathologically opposed religious fanatics are to the ideas of the 21st century with their emphasis on the advancement of women and their enlightenment. Their awareness that education leads to the economic independence of women, enabling them to discard the shackles of patriarchal norms and religious dogma, makes them target boarding schools.
The latest incident has presented an opportunity to the rest of world to exhort the Nigerian state to act with much greater firmness against extremism. The deadly virus affects not only Nigeria, but is also known to have infected large areas in West and South Asia, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Islamic terrorism is prevalent. These groups may not be organisationally linked, but are characterised by the same medieval mindset whose determining features are cruelty, a hatred for the modern world and blind adherence to a warped version of their faith. The roots of this fanaticism have to be exterminated not only in Nigeria but wherever they manifest themselves.