ONE cannot ignore the importance of youth as they are the backbone and future of any nation. Presently, Pakistan holds the largest population of youth in its history. 29% of the Pakistani population is between the ages of 15 and 29 years, and it comprises 36.9% of the total labour force. This young generation is a valuable asset of Pakistan but unfortunately our youth’s potential is not successfully utilized in development and progress of the society. Countering violent extremism urges for a shared commitment of all the stakeholders including government and non-government actors to combat the threat posed by all forms of violent extremism. Pakistan also needs such a collective effort to respond to violence. Perhaps Pakistan has been facing enormous challenges concerning various kinds of conflicts.
A recent study revealed that from 2004 to 2016, terrorism peaked in Pakistan, particularly in the Southern regions. However, since 2019, terrorist attacks have “decreased by around 13% as compared to 2018, and the number of people killed in these attacks plummeted by 40%.” This declining trend might be attributed to joint efforts made by the Pakistan government and military against violent extremism. The 2015 National Action Plan (NAP) prepared to curb violent extremism was a result of a national consensus among all stakeholders including political leaders, state institutions, religious scholars and faiths’ leaders, military, and civil society. Several actions were suggested in the NAP including, “disallowing armed militias to function, ending hate speech and regulating madaras.” These actions played an important role in fighting and contributing to a downward trend in violent extremism, yet the underlying root causes of extremist activities still persist.
To address the issue of violent extremism, local communities are the best place to fight against radicalization. The World Economic Forum has proposed that building confidence between communities and the local and national government must be achieved to support the initiatives against violent extremism. The influence of family, kinship relations, social upbringing where the role of a mother not only influences a child’s behaviour but also has a deep impact on the children’s orientation and patterns of social interaction. Among the primary network of a young person, families are the fundamental source of preventing and countering extremism. In general, parents can contribute in the process of formation of attitudes towards non-violence, preventing radicalization and restrain violent responses.
For examining parental influence, a recent study has confirmed that a key relationship is between mothers and teens in preventing and countering violent extremism. The study suggested that educated mothers can act as a means to prevent building violent extremist ideologies among teens. It means mothers can create a favourable environment for children by discouraging violent or aggressive behaviour among them through several interventions, such as developing trust and maintaining consistent communication. The research also confirmed that mother’s religious beliefs have an important association with teens’ inclination towards adopting extremist views and behaviours. Though a finding of the study revealed a threatening finding that a significant number of students (32.6%) expressed tendency towards violence extremism. In such circumstances, this also happens that family members may be part of the process of shaping aggressive and violent attitudes among teenagers when the strong bonding between parent-child does not exist. In that case, a credible community or a family person, who holds respect and trust of the concerned individual may provide a supportive environment to help him/her to be non-violent.
Mothers teach children various lessons from the religious beliefs they themselves subscribe to and reflect from their behaviour. However, the probability of a change of mind-set as the children grow up and have other learning spaces available (educational institutions they study in and social groups they interact with, etc.) cannot be ignored. Such exposures may provide teens with opportunities to reorient their thoughts and beliefs and as a result, they may become moderates or further extremists. Similarly, if mothers happen to be moderate, children may learn that from them but once they will have other learning spaces available, they may turn to extremists or further moderate.
It is widely believed that children from poor families may likely be vulnerable to accepting extremist beliefs that may lead to violent extremism. Lack of basic facilities of life may push teenagers to become prey of hate mongers who give them money, and identity with certain ideologies. A mother’s financial empowerment not only raises the status of women in the family through financial support to their family members but the exposure and working experience educate mothers to take an active role in safeguarding their teens. It is validated from the findings of the contemporary research that economic factors such as mother as a source of income and children’s perception towards violent extremism have significant relationship. Dr. Salma, a CVE expert noted that “one of the drivers of violent extremism could be grievance leading to anger which is developed due to lack of resources, deprivation and poverty. One could argue that mothers in their perpetual quest to protect their children provide them with all kinds of basic amenities like education, healthcare, considering it their responsibility. A child must be provided with basic needs that is an opportunity to live with respect and peaceful growth.
Like other parts of the globe, Pakistani women have a predominant role in raising children and thus maternal influence cannot be ignored in instilling them with cultural values. Similarly, Pakistani mothers can shape and influence attitudes of the young generation and help to counter harmful influences from the surrounding environment, such as violent extremist ideologies from religious seminaries. Under proper guidance of parents and by providing an enabling environment, our youth can contribute in conflict prevention, sustainable and prosper development of Pakistan.
—The writer is Islamabad based researcher.
