IF Al Qaeda can be in Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan and North Africa, why can’t the Taliban be in Nigeria? However, whereas Al Qaeda retains its name wherever it goes, the Taliban in another country may adopt a different name. It is the agenda that matters, not the name.

In Nigeria, for instance, Taliban counterparts are known as Boko Haram.

Though both may derive inspiration from Al Qaeda, their agenda is not to fight the United States and its allies, but only to implement Sharia.

Boko Haram has killed almost 1,000 people in the country and is determined to continue its depredations until Nigeria is ruled by Sharia law. “We will consider negotiation only when we have brought the government to their knees,” Boko Haram spokesman, Abu Qaqa, said in an exclusive interview to The Guardian, recently – the first-ever to any western newspaper.

“Once we see that things are being done according to the dictates of Allah, and our members are released (from prison), we will only put aside our arms, but we will not lay them down.

You don’t put down your arms in Islam, you only put them aside.”

Most recently Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the country’s deadliest attack that killed 186 people in Kano. And in their latest message the group’s leader Abu Bakar Shekau threatened to bomb schools and kidnap family members of government officials.

Qaqa declared that the rights of 70 million Christians would be protected in the Islamic state, but everyone must abide by Sharia law. “There are no exceptions. Even if you are a Muslim and you don’t abide by Sharia, we will kill you. Even if you are my own father, we will kill you,” he said.

And finally, he told The Guardian, “It’s the secular state that is responsible for the woes we are seeing today. People should understand that we are not saying we have to rule Nigeria, but we have been motivated by the stark injustice in the land. People underrate us but we have our sights set on (bringing Sharia to) the whole world, not just Nigeria.”

Except for its ambition to spread Sharia throughout the world, is there any difference between our own Taliban and Boko Haram?

S.G. JILANEE Karachi