Sir — Going by the difference in the intensity of worldwide reactions to the killing in the office of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and the slaughter of about 2,000 people in Nigeria by the Boko Haram Islamic militants, it appears that apartheid in another form still continues. For more than a year, Boko Haram people have been creating havoc in north-eastern Nigeria, burning churches, lobbing grenades on the worshippers therein, kidnapping school girls for sex slavery etc. But world reaction has been perfunctory. No ‘unity marches’ were organised in Nigeria by global leaders, or for that matter even by Nigeria’s leaders and the people. Everyone is living under Boko Haram’s shadow.
Even Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan seems to be inert about such ghastly activities, though he was very prompt in condemning the Charlie Hebdo massacre. He is concerned only with the oil-rich southern Nigeria, and could eventually initiate the dismemberment of Nigeria into north and Christian-dominated south, abandoning the minority Christians in the north. Meanwhile, we must ponder over the fact that the militants cannot be going on like this without funding from sources abroad.