INDONESIA'S ISLAMIC ORGANIZATIONS STRONGLY CONDEMN ABDUCTION OF NIGERIAN SCHOOLGIRLS by Fardah

    Jakarta, May 13, 2014 (Antara) - A number of leaders of Indonesian Islamic organizations gathered in the headquarters of the Indonesian Ulema (Islamic Scholars) Council (MUI) in Jakarta on May 12, 2014 to express condemnation against the abduction of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram gang.

         "We strongly condemned the action," Abdullah Zaidi, the chairman of Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiyah, told the press on behalf of the other leaders.

         They stated the kidnappings were against the Islamic principles that forbid all kinds of violence against women and those who are innocent.

         "We ask Boko Haram to release them unconditionally," he said.

         Other Islamic organizations represented in the gathering at the MUI headquarters included Muhammadiyah, Syarikat Islam, Al-Washliyah and the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

         The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) - Indonesia's largest Islamic organizations - also condemned the abduction of the Muslim girls by Boko Haram militants who claim to be Muslims.

         "That is a brutal action. We, NU, strongly condemn the act," the chairman of the central executive board of NU (PBNU), Said Aqil Siroj, said here on May 12.

         NU also condemned Boko Haram for its plan to sell the girls abducted from Nigeria's eastern region in April 2014.

         "We appeal to Boko Haram to return to the right path in its struggle," he said.

         Aqil Siroj meanwhile deplored a website in Indonesia that has hailed Boko Haram's action.  "Islam never teaches violence. Islam always teaches civility. Abduction is not characteristic of Islamic struggle and Islam does not condone abduction as a means of struggle," he said.

         He urged the Indonesian government to take an active role in the efforts to free the girls.  As the world's largest Muslim majority country, Indonesia should voice concern over the incident that could damage Islam's image, he added.

         The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) also condemned the abduction and demanded the group to release the girls.

         "(Boko Haram) is not on the right path and is against the Islamic values," the chairman of MUI Din Syamsuddin said in Jakarta recently as quoted by Kompas.com.

         Condemnation was also voiced by The Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) Indonesia.

         "They have clearly violated human rights and international humanitarian law where children and women should be protected,"HRWG's executive director Rafendi Djamin said as quoted by The Jakarta Post.

         HRWG's program manager for the United Nations and Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Muhammad Hafiz, added that education for males as well as females was guaranteed in Islam.

         "Any effort to halt their education violates Islamic values," he said.

         Boko Haram militants, who are fighting for an Islamist state, stormed a secondary school in the northeastern village of Chibok, Nigeria, on April 14 and seized 276 girls who were taking exams. Some have managed to escape, but about 200 remain missing.

         A government official said "all options" were being considered to secure the girls' release.  
    Public figures and politicians in many countries around the world have condemned the act.  President Barack Obama sent a team, including relevant experts and U.S. military personnel, to help release the victims, according to transnational news agencies.

         The leader of the  Nigerian Islamist rebel group Boko Haram has offered to release more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by his fighters last month in exchange for its members being held in detention, according to a video posted on YouTube on May12.

         The United Nations human rights office on May 6, 2014, lashed out at the militant group who previously referred the girls as ¿slaves¿, says it plans to sell them ¿in the market¿ and ¿marry them off¿.
    "(We) warn the perpetrators that there is an absolute prohibition against slavery and sexual slavery in international law,"the OHCHR spokesperson warned. "These can, under certain circumstances, constitute crimes against humanity."
    He added that there was no statute of limitations for such grave international crimes, including slavery and sexual slavery, "Anyone responsible could be arrested and prosecuted at any time in the future".

         Reuters reported on May 9 that  Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, the top religious authority in the birthplace of Islam, has condemned Nigeria's Boko Haram as a group "set up to smear the image of slam" and condemned its kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls.

         Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh said the radical movement, which says it wants to establish a "pure" Islamic state in Nigeria, was "misguided" and should be "shown their wrong path and be made to reject it."
    "This is a group that has been set up to smear the image of Islam and must be offered advice, shown their wrong path and be made to reject it," he told the Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat in an interview published recently.

         "These groups are not on the right path because Islam is against kidnapping, killing and aggression," he said. "Marrying kidnapped girls is not permitted." ***1***
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