Youngsters ‘most prone to religious indoctrination'

Khalid Khan, President Centre for Research & Social Studies (CRSS), has said that the current drift towards political instability and gradual proliferation of obscurantist views in vast segments of society warrant an urgent intellectual intervention.

He was delivering a presentation on ‘Youth Radicalisation & Militancy’ as part of a seminar on ‘Societal Violence & Militancy and its Impacts on Youth’ organised by Youth For Change (Y4C), in collaboration with the Community Appraisal & Motivation Programme at the conference hall of the District Government Mardan Building.

Khalid Khan said we need an urgent intellectual intervention and an informed debate within the society to trigger a critical and conscious debate on fundamental religious issues. He emphasised the need to wean the people away from using their religious ideology as a political tool and should rather use it as a tool of knowledge.

He said the horrific acts of violence in Mumbai and the attacks on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore clearly established the undeniable link between youth, small arms and terrorism. “These incidents also highlighted the outreach of those non-state actors, who are out not only to destabilise states but are also capable of bringing states to the brink of war,” he said.

Youngsters, he said, are the most prone to fall pray to the ideologically-fired non-state entities whose educational institutions are providing the basic inspiration to tens of thousands of young people all over the country. “If we look at the people involved in criminal or terrorist activities, they are predominantly very young, usually aged between 15 and 25,” he said adding that the poor socio-economic conditions deliver these youngsters into the hands of criminal gangs or militant groups.

Religious indoctrination also lures scores of educated youngsters from affluent families into the ranks of Jehadi networks, he said and urged that all state institutions and civil society must intervene at whatever level they could to prevent the youth from falling pray to extremists.