Youth as political force

By

Dr Ghayur Ayub

The United Nations defines youth as a period during which a person is being prepared and prepares itself to be an active and full, responsible member of the society. This period of youth is identified by the United Nations as 15 to 24 years. According to statistics, in 2004 there were around 36 million young people living in Pakistan. Five years later the number has increased. Up until recently, little was known about the details of their lives. An international NGO, Population Council, which conducts biomedical, social science and public health research has published four policy briefs on the youth of Pakistan based on data covering areas of poverty, reproductive health, gender inequity and the influence of parents on their abilities to make decisions. Four major studies were conducted by Ms Munawar Sultana, Ms Azima Faizunnisa, and Mr Minhahaj-ul-Haq, under the titles of "˜Culture of Silence',  "˜The Poverty Trap', "˜Two Worlds Under the Same Roof', and  "˜Discrimination Starts at Home' respectively.   The studies talk about; the experience of married and unmarried young people from different social strata regarding their own attitudes and expectations; the impact of family-level poverty on the educational attainment and economic activity of Pakistani youth; a persistent asymmetry between young men and women's experience of growing up in Pakistan; and the critical role of parents in socializing their children and passing on essential information and life skills. In a nutshell it is said, that poverty has meant that 36 percent of this group has never attended school, while nearly 50 percent of boys in the lowest economic quartile start working before the age of 15. This makes them vulnerable. Similarly, girls have less autonomy to make decisions and have far less mobility outside the home than do boys. These disparities mean that girls often face considerable disadvantages in reaching their full potential. This trend has been changing as we find more young females taking active part in certain fields like media and entertainment which were dominated by the males. It is poverty which has played an essential role in changing the psyche of the youth of Pakistan.

Detailed surveys such as these were rare a few years ago because the national psyche was not tuned into the changed circumstance that erupted after 9/11. It was coupled with the introduction of freedom of electronic and print media during the last 5 years. Before this, electronic media was under the total control of government and print media was ruled by a few powerful businessmen, limiting youth influence only to educational institutes. ZAB was the second politician (Quad-e-Azam being the first) who took advantage of the force of youth and turned the tide of political wave in his favour. Since then, things have changed. Electronic media brought politics into our living rooms. Watching talk shows has become a part of our daily routines, akin to hunger and thirst for food and water respectively. It injected two things into the psyche of society; first, it gave the public a chance to watch their political leaders critically on their TV screens; secondly, the public can now observe the working of various political parties as if it were a soap opera. Such projections have especially caught the attention of the youth, changing their mindset accordingly. In other words, political awareness has spiralled up manifold amongst youngsters making them a strong force in the politics of Pakistan.

Their commitment came up recently in two shades; a dark and a bright side. The dark side can be seen as a powerful force in the shape of suicide bombers especially in the poverty-riddled community. The majority of them are between the ages of 15 and 25. Citing one example; we heard of 15 year old Hamad Khan from Qambar village, Swat who studied in the ninth grade.  It took the Taliban about 40 days to brainwash him into such a heinous act. According to reports, radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah conditioned and disenfranchised thousands of such youngsters in a brutal uprising across Swat. The bright side can be seen in the launching of Youth Parliament of Pakistan (YPP) which is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious program initiated by Mr.Abrar-ul-Haq to foster and translate the talent and excellence of the youth of Pakistan into tangible action and community service and in the process provide a nursery for scientifically trained leaders and citizens of character and substance. With the motto of "˜Know Your Rights', he recruited more than 70,000 members from across the country in a short span of time. The question is, if the youth can be recruited by fanatics like Mullah Fazlullah or philanthropists like Abrar-ul-Haq, why can't they be enrolled by the political parties?

According to available information, all the major parties have "˜Youth Wings' engraved in their structures, but how many have made them an effective force? Practically none. Imran Khan, with his experience of his fund raising campaign for the cancer hospital, knows what a tremendous role the youth played making his dream come through. He seems to be the only politician concentrating on winning the hearts and minds of the young by speedily enrolling them in his party. But what about the other parties, such as PML-N? When it comes to the popularity of political leaders, Mr. Mohammad Nawaz Sharif stands taller than other politicians including Imran Khan. But is he trying to enrol the youth to his party en-mass? According to reports, Punjab is the only province where PML-N can win elections with a comfortable majority thanks to Mr Shahbaz Sharif's administrative capabilities. The party in other provinces might not show promising results if one takes away Nawaz factor. In this regards Imran Khan might become a dark horse in the next elections because of his interest in the youth of Pakistan.

So, what does all this mean for the political parties? Without exploiting religious leanings and worldly deprivations, which the Taliban played upon; the political parties such as PML-N can establish a methodology to attract the youth of Pakistan. All it needs is for the party leadership to select a dedicated party worker whose integrity is doubtless and whose loyalty is undisputed and give him the task of revamping its "˜Youth Wing'. According to studies, the youth of today judge leadership by their integrity, commitment and perseverance. Such a member would get additional points if he happens to have familial or other close links with the leadership of the party making him the leader's eyes and ears. Such a trustworthy relationship would make the 'Youth Wing' head powerful psychologically which itself would reflect positively with the young recruits. Once such a leader is selected, he may present his plan to the hierarchy with the aim of putting the youth policy of the party on a methodical path by creating multilateral vertical and horizontal links through SMS, Emails, and other Internet tools, expanding the working capacity of the party and improving the working relationship of its organs. The plan should cover various angles such as; creating information channels; maintaining multilateral coordination; creating direct access of the youth to leadership; assessing the activities of the youth; keeping the hierarchy's norms of the party through discipline; taking appropriate actions when necessary; and maintaining monitoring of activities relevant to youth. To make it operatively successful, 'Cells' should be made from the lowest level of Halqa to the top level at the Central Secretariat. Each 'Cell' should be linked vertically and horizontally with each other for fast transmission of information. In this way, the most important force of the society-the youth, will effectively be integrated in the political structure of the party making the party stronger and, at the same time, nurturing the youth to become the future leaders. 

The end