Abuja, Nigeria (CNN) — Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived an attack by the Taliban, on Monday appealed to Boko Haram militants in Nigeria to lay down their weapons and “stop misusing the name of Islam.”
Malala is visiting Nigeria in support of an estimated 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from their school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria on April 14.
Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as “Western education is a sin” in the local Hausa language, is trying to impose Sharia law across Nigeria and especially opposes the education of women.
Malala has been an outspoken supporter of girls’ education. In 2012, her views made her the target of the Pakistan Taliban, which tried to assassinate the then-15-year-old as she traveled home from school.
She survived and a year later launched the nonprofit Malala Fund, aimed at empowering girls through education.
Over the weekend, Malala met some of the schoolgirls who managed to escape Boko Haram and the families of the more than 200 girls still missing. Outrage at the mass abduction inspired the social media campaign#BringBackOurGirls, with Malala among the global faces photographed holding a sign with the hashtag.
She met with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday in the capital, Abuja.
Nigerians and others have accused the government of not acting swiftly or efficiently enough to protect the girls who were abducted from Chibok. But the military has defended its response saying its soldiers have to enforce a state of emergency across Borno state, where Chibok is situated — an area of more than 90,000 square kilometers (34,750 square miles).
Categories: Americas, Answers to Anti-Islam, Anti Islam act by Muslims