The story of the abducted Nigerian schoolgirls is heartbreaking and horrific. And it resonates in every place where there is repression and exploitation of females. The cry to bring back our girls is heard far beyond this African country
“The Islamist extremists are afraid of books and pens; the power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women”, said Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen activist who was shot at by the Taliban for daring to go to school.
One may ask what religion has to do with the abduction of around 300 teenage school-going girls. In northern Nigeria it means everything, as the group claiming responsibility for this atrocity is a religious extremist group called Boko Haram, which means, ‘Western education is a sin’.
Boko Haram wants to introduce rigid Islamic law in Nigeria, as against the country’s Western-style Constitution. According to Boko Haram’s version of Sharia’h law, women are supposed to be at home, raising children and caring for their husbands, instead of seeking education in schools.
On April 14, some 276 girls were kidnapped from their hostel in Chibok region of Northern Nigeria. These girls, aged 16 to 18, were studying in a Government Secondary School. Due to the activities of Boko Haram, the school had shut down, only to open briefly to allow its final year students to appear for their exams.
Dawn was about to break when these girls heard gunshots. Armed men entered their dorm and said, “Don’t worry, we’re soldiers”. They escorted the girls outside and set fire to the building. Reportedly one Government official got an information tip an hour before the militants arrived. A paltry force of 15 soldiers was arranged to ‘ward off’ Boko Haram’s men who had sophisticated machinery and equipment. They could manage to hold back Boko Haram’s convoy of 20 pickup trucks and 30 motorcycles carrying about 200 armed militants, for about an hour. During that time, they sent an SOS message and desperately waited for assistance from the nearest barracks, about 30 miles away, or an hour’s drive from Chibok. One of the 15 soldiers was killed and the others fled for their lives after their ammunition got over. No help arrived.
In a recently released video footage, Boko Haram has threatened to “sell them in the marketplace”. “I abducted your girls”, says Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau in the video. When reports of eight new girls being kidnapped poured in, there instilled a state of renewed panic among the affected families and residents of the nearby areas. If nothing is done about rescue efforts, then around 276 teenage girls are on their way to becoming child brides or sex slaves.
Protests have erupted in the north-east and in the capital Abuja, over the incapability of the Nigerian authorities to prevent the attack and rescue the girls. It’s been over three weeks since the attacks. President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience Jonathan’s recent comments have added fuel to fire, resulting in the arrests of two protesters, allegedly, on the orders of the First lady. She has reportedly said that the abductions are fabricated and that the protesters are lying as they wanted to defame the Nigerian Government and the President.
Boko Haram emerged from the poorest regions of Nigeria, where over 70 per cent of the population lives in abject poverty and malnourishment. Boko Haram allegedly asks its members to keep long beards, use red or black headscarves and discontinue the use of ‘modern and Western’ equipment such as wristwatches and safety helmets. They, ironically, do not reject the use of other ‘modern and western’ equipment such as cars, motorcycles, cell phones and AK-47 guns.
Among the 276 missing girls, at least two have died of snakebites and around 20 are said to be seriously ill. Reports have started pouring in that the abducted girls are being forced into marriage with their abductors, for a nominal sum of $12 as bride price. Some have been taken across the borders to Cameroun and Chad.
This act is a part of the global backlash against female education. Girls worldwide face situations like this. The reasons may vary from religious extremism, patriarchy to poverty. The possible difference in this situation is that the abductors have identified themselves, claimed responsibility, without any guilt. Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for seeking education. Acid has been thrown on girls in Afghanistan for the same reason.
Militant groups like the Boko Haram are available a dime a dozen around the world, with or without any organised identity for them to claim. These people have weird ‘justifications’ for the systematic rape, torture, slavery, abduction, imprisonment and denial of basic human rights irrespective of colour, caste or creed. Their hatred towards women run so deep, that propagating religious factors to justify such acts is child’s play for them.