Violence & young people

Poverty and the defence of honour are seen as the primary triggers for young people to commit acts of violence.

That we live in a violent country is unfortunately undeniable. There is the violence that goes with criminality and terrorism, the violence that is domestic and the violence that is attendant on traffic accidents, among others. The scale of many of these forms of violence is so vast as to be almost incomprehensible, beyond understanding. But, in many instances, the motivation for committing violence can be individuated and a recent study takes a magnifying glass to the causes of violence among young people. Poverty and the defence of personal or family honour are seen as the primary triggers for young people to commit acts of violence, according to research conducted across the country by the British Council and released this past week. This is the third in a series of reports generically titled Pakistan, Next Generation Voices and it overturns some assumptions. The casual consumer of our media might think that political and religious beliefs were significant motivators for violence, or pressure on young people from political or religious figures in their lives. But it transpires that these are the least significant factors behind violence.

Over 5,200 young people were interviewed across every province. A startling 42 per cent of them cited poverty as the primary reason for committing violence be it robbery or murder, and 17 per cent claimed the defence of family honour was the trigger. Taken as a whole, the report presents a picture of a young generation that has been negatively affected by violence in its many forms. It is now an ingrained part of our daily lives and, with the younger generation potentiated for violence, the prospects of peace seem grim. But the utility of such reports, of course, is that they identify the causes, so solutions can be implemented. The obvious corollary to this report would be an emphasis on development and education as a means to counter the violence, given that poverty and notions of what family and personal honour mean and where they are vested, has been cited as a major cause. This would take years, but at least we would be on the right path. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2014.

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