Countering Ethno-Sectarian conflicts by reaching out to extremist youth through engaging mothers in Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is home to multiple types of complex conflict ranging from sectarian, political, religious extremism to ethnic fanaticism. The weaponization of communities, the transformation of youth to become extremists and the influx of money has aggravated the situation in most parts of Pakistan. We engage mothers of extremist youth and build their capacity in critical thinking, dialogue and community peacebuilding. Through the agency of mother we reach out to the extremist youth and help them in de-radicalization in a phased wise manner. We bring in youth from different ethnic and sectarian groups and put them together to think and act collectively to address violent extremism through non-violent ways of engaging and building networks of likeminded youth. The innovative method of working through mothers has helped transform hundreds of youth and we have brought mothers from different ethnic and sectarian groups to work collectively to moderate extremism. We have experienced that ethno-sectarian clashes in some parts of Pakistan can only be resolved by well equipping mothers and youth with tools of conflict transformation at the community level and formation of Mothers and Youth Peace Groups as well establishment of early warning and early response mechanism at the community levels