NIGERIA: ISLAMISTS ATTACK POLICE

TIGHT SECURITY CONTOL
AFTER NIGERIA ISLAMIC UNREST

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters - AFP) - Members of a local Islamic group which wants a wider adoption of Islamic law (sharia) across Africa's most populous nation have burnt churches, a police station and a prison and clashed with the security forces in Bauchi, Borno, Kano and Yobe states, which a result of at least 80 people killed across four states. Residents said youths armed with machetes, knives, bows and arrows, locally made hunting rifles and home-made explosives had attacked police buildings and anybody resembling a police officer or government official in Borno's capital Maiduguri.

Armed police manned roadblocks and patrolled the streets of Kano on Tuesday but the city appeared to be calm. Soldiers and police also enforced a night time curfew in Bauchi, where the unrest began on Sunday, but there was no fresh violence. The government has estimated 55 people have been killed but security sources and residents say the toll is much higher. One Nigerian newspaper with reporters around the region put the death toll at over 150 in Borno and Kano states alone.

A rebel group called Boko Haram, which opposes Western education and demands the adoption of sharia law in all of Nigeria, is behind the latest unrest. "We do not believe in Western education. It corrupts our ideas and beliefs. That is why we are standing up to defend our religion," a senior member of the group, Abdulmuni Ibrahim Mohammed, told Reuters on Monday after his arrest in Kano state. More than 50 Nigerians were killed and over 100 arrested in those clashes, prompting the Bauchi state governor to impose a night time curfew on the state's capital city.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

If one is actually Krishna conscious, he cannot have any enemies. Since his only engagement is to induce others to surrender to Krishna, or God, how can he have enemies? If one advocates the Hindu religion, the Muslim religion, the Christian religion, this religion or that religion, there will be conflicts. History shows that the followers of religious systems without a clear conception of God have fought with one another. There are many instances of this in human history, but systems of religion that do not concentrate upon service to the Supreme are temporary and cannot last for long because they are full of envy. There are many activities directed against such religious systems, and therefore one must give up the idea of "my belief" and "your belief." Everyone should believe in God and surrender unto Him. That is bhāgavata-dharma.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 6 - Chapter 16 - Verse 41"