As one year have passed with no information on the fate of the hundreds of innocent Nigerian girls who were abducted by Boko Haram, the world just continues to wait silently with no serious efforts made to locate them. The situation exposes the hypocrisy of developed nations as they are reluctant to get involved in an operation intended to ensure the safe release of children from the hands of the perpetrators as they would have done in a country where they have vested interests. Perhaps, Nigeria has nothing substantial to offer to powerful nations, so if anything happens in their land, it will be watched with callousness. In fact, this is the case with most African countries where internal tribal, ethnic and religious conflicts commonplace - no one pays attention.

It is quite disturbing that Islamic countries are not doing anything to address the issues that have stemmed from sectarian conflicts that take place by adopting a comprehensive strategy. The skewed interpretation of faith imparted by unqualified teachers in religious schools have created a generation that have been indoctrinated to perceive people of other faiths as unworthy infidels that are not to be accepted.

However, Islamic countries can do a lot to reverse this situation by halting the provision of funds to religious schools that teach extremist ideologies. Inculcating a broader and all accommodating world view in the minds of the young generation would not only help building a smart generation but would also make the developing nations better equipped for meeting the future challenges in various fields. Some of these fields include scientific reasoning, economic and diplomatic relations and in addition, it would help improve the possibilities of shaping a culture that can coexist with diverse groups of society.

The West also plays a role in creating an environment of peace for the entire world with support of the United Nations (UN). It is important to take a step today as future wars will have little to do with gaining economic and military supremacy and are more likely to do with ideological polarisation.

— The reader is an Indian business development coordinator based in Dubai