London, Pakistani teenage rights'
activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban,
has advised Nigeria's Boko Haram to "go and learn Islam", saying the
dreaded extremist outfit is "misusing the name of the religion" by
kidnapping over 200 schoolgirls.
"I
think they haven't studied Islam yet, they haven't studied Quran yet, and they
should go and they should learn Islam," the 16-year-old told here. "I
think that they should think of these girls as their own sisters. How can one
imprison his own sisters and treat them in such a bad way?" she said,
referring to Boko Haram's threats to sell the girls into slavery.
"They
are actually misusing the name of Islam because they have forgotten that the
word islam means 'peace,'" Malala said.She added: "When I he
"The
international community has to do more to help the girls kidnapped over three
weeks ago by Islamist Boko Haram militants in Nigeria. When such things happen
we cannot keep quiet," she said."If we remain silent then this will
spread, this will happen more and more and more," said the girls' education
campaigner, who was the youngest nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize last year.The
abduction, that occurred on April 15, has sparked international outrage and
mounting demands for Nigeria to spare no effort to find and free the girls
before they can be sold into slavery or otherwise harmed.Nigeria police have
said more than 300 girls were abducted from their secondary school in the
country's remote northeast. Of them, 276 remain in captivity while 53 managed
to escape.