By Fazal Haq
We come across extremism on a daily basis daily either consciously or unconsciously. This extremism in the context of Pakistan is faith, gender, ethnicity, class, political, cultural-based where we keep irrevocable hostiles for others. There are various sources involved in this whole process which sometimes takes decades and it is not a day-night strategy that one becomes radicle in a while. The following factors play a vital role in this process.
Parents:
It is very much clear that the parental role plays a vital role in shaping and moulding children’s future. It is a stage where children first listen, observe, speak and act like their parents. If the parents feed the mind of the children with rich ingredients, then it would have a positive and healthy outcome. If the children commit mistakes, they need not be punished but rather informed to avoid them in the future. We start beating and taunting them for doing a small mistake and it is the first stage from there their extremism begins which then over the period nurtures.
Family:
Now the children as they are growing up start knowing the people who constantly visit their house and vice versa. This exposition also either plays a negative or positive role it again depends on their environment whether it is conducive or hostile. If there is an issue among the family members that should not be discussed in front of the children as it creates hostility and it is they who carry on the mental agony throughout their lives on their blank minds who instead need some better things to keep in mind.
Society:
Coming to the societal role that it plays in shaping children’s future that again might be fruitful or not, but the children try to figure out peers of their interest where they learn new informal things which in the majority of the cases parents and family miss talking about at their homes which they try to know from other at the societal level. The children’s interests must be kept in mind so that they may be rightly directed. They need to be informed about the new changes that take place by keeping in mind their age and needs. We fail to inform them then they try to find new avenues (often costly) for understanding issues that they come across on a daily basis.
Educational institutions and the Role of Syllabus:
Educational institutions also play a key role in both ways it either can be negative or positive, but their role cannot be neglected in this process. If the syllabus is based on aggressive teachings inspiring wars, and heroism by justifying it through religious books and Sorah related to the teachings of war and heroism while the rest of relevant teachings for the time are ignored that teach responsibility, right and wrong, ethics then it is this approach that needs to be changed for a better tomorrow.
Moreover, the teachers who whip and punish students make them radicles or it is they who push the students to the peripheries. I once asked one of the Gold Medalists of a well-reputed university in the country regarding his passive participation in classroom discussions and activities. He told me that he had been kept silent at the early stage of his education which is why he could not talk in the class. I felt his excuse and hesitation that what was he referring to between the lines. Above all, the role of the institution becomes more dubious and threatening when it starts preaching a particular ideology and this indoctrination becomes more severe when the children do not accept any other one in the society, therefore, educational institutions need to play a positive role in the upbringing of the children. We see institutions that how they brainwash their faculty members into extremism by inculcating a single agenda in their minds.
Madrassa:
Now coming to this form of religious teaching institutions where they do not follow any syllabus fairly, they teach as per their whims. They prepare a generation who in the current world perhaps does not have any future. They rather after getting free rely on minor jobs for their livelihood. Moreover, these simple-minded people have immense fake respect among the people who control the loudspeaker which is why people are afraid to criticize them. They know if they criticize, they would be called non-believers, and atheists as a result feel insecure even though they might be firm believers. This extremism reaches another level where they know how to malign and disassociate the sane minds through the very platform which the majority accepts.
Religious Political Parties: These religious parties also add fuel to the fire in horning extremism in the society and it is these parties distorting the Arabic language in their favour that works. This form of extremism is more dangerous where not only political but also religious opponents divide one another based on religion to come into power. These parties have in reality nothing to do with introducing Islam rather it is jumping into the corridors of power.
Political Elites:
Sometimes the political elites also use this platform for their vested interest which increases the vote bank that also contributes to the increasing extremism in the country. The previous and the incumbent Govts are the glaring examples of this strategy.
Social Condition of the People: Poverty also contributes to the increasing extremism in the country that what we had seen in 2008-09 that how and who participated in it. It was in majority of those individuals who had personal grudges, envy or those who could not eat better at home became members of the extremist groups in various parts of the country especially in the peripheries.
Media:
It highlights a minute incident to the level where a common person also becomes an extremist. In this 5th generation warfare, every news that it reports needs to be double crosschecked before it is being broadcasted. It is in haste, especially in breaking news, news channels broadcast things that cannot be found in reality but the consumers tweet, copy, paste and share it extensively where truth does find its place. The users become part of this extremism and lie who enjoy it. Media outlets are found in competition with another which the commoners who consume such lies shape their overall personality.
Globalization:
It is very much clear that each new technology has pros and cons so the same is the case for globalization. It has snatched local identities, especially the conservative people who don’t accept “Other” which is why people become extremists. Coexistence and pluralism are the way to fight extremism.
Judicial system: The loopholes in the legal system, which the extremists exploit in their favour, need to be amended as after every major incident in the country the people are found divided across the country. It is found every time that one group stands with the victim while the other that is what we call the mob stands with the villain. Conclusion: Some major steps need to be taken to counter extremism in the country.
The writer is an Ex-Coordinator Department of English, University of Buner. He is currently perusing MPhil in American Studies from QAU Islamabad. He can be reached at: F.haq307@gmail.com