The World Sikh News expresses solidarity with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign to save 276 Nigerian girls abducted by Boko Haram three years ago.

Iwrite with anguish, with pain, with empathy and with a little hope and prayer that some brave and bold Sikh woman or man or a group will take up cudgels on behalf of the 276 girls abducted by the Boko Haram (literally meaning Against western education) in Nigeria three years ago. I see that as an extension of the spirit of Sarbat da Bhala -Welfare of all Humanity prayer of all Sikhs, everyday.

The World Sikh News joins the worldwide #BringBackOurGirls campaign and expresses solidarity with the victims’ families and unequivocally condemns the role of the Boko Haram militia.

Sikhs have a historical reference point. Nearly three centuries back, Mughal ruler Ahmed Shah Abdali abducted Hindu girls from the then Hindustan to be trafficked to Lahore. Sikh insurgents chased them, encountered them, fought them, exhibited exemplary character, brought back ‘our’ girls and restored each one of them to their families. Legend has it that they used to strike at the midnight hour when the Mughal forces were in deep slumber.

It has been three long years when on 14 April 2017, these young girls from small town Chibok in poverty-stricken Nigeria were abducted from their school dormitory and taken to an unknown destination. The government, the UN agencies, human rights organisations -everybody has failed. Some girls escaped and some were later freed, but still 200 of them are in captivity.

Three years on…the parents cannot sleep. The parents do not know whether they are dead or alive. “Our Chibok girls went to get educated. Education is the lifeline to great opportunities. We cannot deprive them of that opportunity by leaving them with Boko Haram. They must be back,” Oby Ezekwesili of the #BringBackOurGirls movement said in an interview with BBC News.

This abduction of the Chibok girls is a slur on humanity. Not to say that trafficking is not happening elsewhere. This is a different kind with the express purpose of using them as “war material”.

Satellite images can identify adversaries and enemies in the nook and corner of the world and drones can be set on them, programmed to hit targets. I would like to know why is technology not helping us to know the location of the girls? Has someone attempted this? Where are the intelligent drones?

While the Nigerian government presides over draught, death and destruction, the lack of political will at all levels is all too transparent. Undoubtedly, the UN agencies, the US and many other governments are “seized with the matter”. Where are the results?

In the last decade, the Sikh community has seen a plethora of humanitarian service organisations working in difficult terrain worldwide. Sikhs are spending millions on self-promotion fearing harassment and hate. It is time to be more extrovert and attain recognition through work and example, not by publicity alone. Bhagat Kabir Ji, in Guru Granth Sahib, makes it clear, “Jo paadosi ke hua, so apne bhi jaan.” – “Beware! What happens unto your neighbour can happen to you as well.”

Something inside me tells me that it is time the Sikhs take on this. History is beckoning us to listen to the poorest of the poor, the weak under attack and to fight back the perpetrators.

Come on, #BringBackOurGirls.

Realising that there are no easy solutions, let there be an initiative by volunteers of the Sikh nation to go out there in search of the girls -those abducted by the Boko Haram and stop trafficking of girls and women worldwide.

It is high time the clock strikes 12 again.