IT IN BUSINESS FINAL TERM PROJECT

Topic: Youth Violence in Pakistan

Final assessment
SUBMITTED BY HAMZA IFTIKHAR BHATTI
REGISTRATION # 2011285
SUBMITTED TO Sir Shahid Jahangir Raja
 Letter of transmittal:

April, 22, 2021

Dear/ Sir!

I Mr Hamza Iftikhar Bhatti, student of BBA 1st semester spring 2021 at SZABIST Islamabad
campus, street #7,H8/4, bearing registration # 2011285 intends to submit my report entitled ‘’
Youth Violence in Pakistan’’ as partial fulfilment of the final term project of IT in business
course requirement.

The purpose of this report is to know the scope of youth violence in Pakistan and how it can be
prevented in future. My report includes introduction, background, risk factors and prevention of
youth violence in Pakistan. It includes detailed account of international and national level of
youth violence. After detailed online research data is provided along with conclusion and
recommendations. At the end references of the authors of each article are given.

I hope this request will merit your approval,

Sincerely yours’

Hamza Iftikhar Bhatti

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 EXUCTIVE SUMMARY

Pakistani leaders face serious domestic extremism challenges; more than 47,000 thousand lives
have been lost in terrorism-related violence in Pakistan over the past decade.

Effective counter-radicalization processes must take into account Pakistan’s large young adult
population (ages 15-29), which collectively accounts for at least 30 percent of the overall
population.

Youth radicalization in Pakistan can be understood as the product of an exclusively Islamic

identity—meaning a majority of youth identify primarily through their religion over nationality
— combined with a broader reactive movement comprised of militant, political and missionary
organizations.

A variety of religious, political and militant organizations operating within Pakistan, some with
the tacit or active support of the state, have fostered an enabling environment for radicalization
and at times violent action. Some groups provide forums for interaction and connections with
more militant actors, while others carry out the whole range of social, political and violent
activity.

When radical groups can popularize an exclusive Islamic or sectarian identity, even nonviolent
organizations can become connected or aligned with more radical organizations and concepts.

Confronting youth radicalization in Pakistan requires a holistic approach that supports political,
social and educational alternatives to exclusionary Islamic identities, reducing the space for
groups that espouse violence in the name of an exclusive Islamic identity.

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 Table of contents

Page (I)………………………………………………………..letter of transmittal

Page (II)……………………………………………………......Executive summary

Page (III) ……………………………………………………….Table of content

Page (IV)………………………………………………………..list of illustrations

Page 1 …………………………………………………………..Introduction

Page 2-5…………………………………………………………Background

Page 6……………………………………………………………Methodology

Page 7…………………………………………………………….Conclusion

Page 8-9…………………………………………………………..Recommendations

Page 10……………………………………………………………Glossary

Page 11……………………………………………………………References

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 List of illustrations

Figure 1………………………………………Page # 3

Figure 2………………………………………Page # 4

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 Introduction:

Violence has been defined as “the deliberate use of physical force or power, threatened or actual,
against another person or against a group resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-
development or deprivation”. Youth violence includes people aged 10–29 years.(WHO, 2015)

Youth violence is an important but neglected public health issue. It may have very serious
implications including adverse childhood experience (ACE) which may have long-term impact
on health and wellbeing. Youth Violence is the wilful use of physical power to harass or injure
others by young people of age 10-24years. Usually, it includes young people harming peers who
are unknown to them. Youth violence may include fighting, bullying and threats with weapons,
and gang-related violence. A young person may be involved with youth violence as a victim,
offender, or witness.(Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020)

About 13 young persons in the United States are victims of homicide daily and there are 1,642
visit of hospital emergency departments for physical assault-related injuries.(David-Ferdon &
Simon, 2014)

Violence can be divided into three categories, according to the context in which it is committed.

1. Self-directed violence is subdivided into suicidal behaviour and self-abuse. The former
includes suicidal thoughts, attempted suicides and completed suicides. Self-abuse, in contrast,
includes acts such as self-mutilation.

2. Interpersonal violence refers to violence between individuals. The category is subdivided into
family and intimate partner violence, and community violence. The former includes child
maltreatment, intimate partner violence and elder abuse. Community violence is broken down
into violence by acquaintances and violence by strangers. It covers youth violence, assault by
strangers, violence related to property crimes, and violence in workplaces and other institutions.

3. Collective violence refers to violence committed by larger groups of people and can be

subdivided into social, political and economic violence.(WHO, 2015)

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 Back ground:

Youth violence may result in adverse and long lasting effects on the physical, psychological and
social health of youth. It is an important cause of death for adults and results in more than
400,000 nonfatal injuries each year. Adverse childhood experiences, like youth violence, may be
associated with negative health effects throughout life. Youth violence may cause delinquent
behaviour and other psychological issues, i.e. future violence perpetration and victimization,
smoking, substance use, obesity, high-risk sexual behaviour, depression, academic difficulties,
school dropout, and suicide. Youth violence has serious implications on the community.
Violence increases cost of health care, reduces rates of property and hinders social services. Due
to youth violence safety issues arises which result in reduced participation in community events,
school attendance and business progress. If community resources are directed to prevent and
treat youth violence other community issues are neglected which require more resources.
(Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020)

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 Total Cost of Youth
Violence

Direct Costs
Indirect Costs
Medical and mental
health care • Lost earnings •
Struggling schools •
Law enforcement and
incarceration • Fear in communities •
Declining property
Legal and social values
services

Figure 1. Direct and Indirect Costs of Youth Violence. (David-Ferdon & Simon, 2014)

In a systematic review in 2014, the prevalence of violence and aggression among the Iranian
adolescents and youth, reported to be between 30% and 65.5%. Homicide is found to be the third
leading cause of death among young people aged 10–24 years, it causes more deaths in this age
group than the other seven leading causes of death combined. Youth gang activity is more
prevalent in cities but can be seen in all types of communities. Data from the 2011 National
Youth Gang Survey of law enforcement agencies show that 85% of larger cities, 50% of
suburban counties, 30% of smaller cities, and 14% of rural counties reported gang activity
(David-Ferdon & Simon, 2014)

Youth violence has the highest burden in low- and middle-income countries. The prevalence of
both physical fighting and bullying is reported to be very high in these countries. According to
The World Health Organization (WHO) report based data from twenty countries in low-and
middle-income areas an average of 47% of boys and 26% of girls participated in physical
fighting during the past 12 months and 42% of boys and 37% of girls having been bullied in the
past month.(Golshiri, Farajzadegan, Tavakoli, & Heidari, 2018)

The Covid-19 pandemic has also affected general mental health negatively as feelings of stress
and anxiety increases. Isolation makes it harder to be distracted from negative thoughts and the

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whole situation brings along new concerns, such as worries about loved ones or uncertainty
about the future (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, b). All of this could make
children and young people more vulnerable and, thus, susceptible to joining a gang or
committing crime in order to escape from other daily struggles (Dearden, 2020).

Youth violence in educational institutions may result in serious harm to students. Aggression and
violence in students is of great concern for the community and the involved families. Violence in
educational institutions brings a negative impact on the environment, resulting in anxiety, fear
and insecurity. Students are deprived of their rights to education and to health. There are
numerous risk factors that may result in violent adolescents and additionally, there are several
effects that violent youth have on societies. Youth violence is preventable. There are many
methods to help prevent youth violence and its effects. (UNESCO, 2017)

In high school students, a significantly higher percentage of non-Hispanic African American

(35%) and Hispanic (28%) students than non-Hispanic White (21%) students reported to be
involved in at least one physical fight in the last year. In contrast, a significantly higher
percentage of non-Hispanic White high school students (22%) reported experiencing bullying in
school than Hispanic (18%) or non-Hispanic African American (13%) high school students. .
(David-Ferdon & Simon, 2014)

Non-Hispanic Black Hispanic Non-Hispanic White.

Physical Fight Bullied at school

Figure 2 .Percentage of Physical Fighting and Bullying among High School Students in the

United States by Race/Ethnicity, 2013. (Source: Youth Online: High School YRBS)

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There are about 36million youths (ages 20–24 years) in Pakistan and 58million below 15 years
of age (60% youth of the population). About 70,000 children are ‘on the streets’ and same
number of children are ‘off the streets’, but it is anticipated these youth are vulnerable to join the
violent youth in the near future due to ever-deteriorating socio-economic and political conditions
in Pakistan. The major risk factors for youth violence poverty, illiteracy, inequality and limited
opportunities of positive, social interaction (such as education, employment and sports). There
are some other important factors which are contributing to youth violence in Pakistan.

Historically, in 1947, Muslim refugees from the ‘Indian part’ of the subcontinent experienced a
great deal of violence. Three regular wars with India and on-going proxy wars between them
have contributed to youth violence. Proxy groups from neighbouring countries use youth for
violent acts. A ‘cold war’ of the 1980’s OR Jihad brought the Kalashnikov culture, drugs, mafias
and religious fanaticism to Pakistan and generated sectarian divisions within the country. Afghan
refugees have been additional source of violence. A ‘war on terror’ started intolerant and
extremist behaviour in Pakistan. Suicide bombers (aged 16–24 years) target the security forces.

They are fighting for the sake of ‘Jihad’.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, birth of a male child is celebrated by firing in the air. Since rivalries
between different clans, castes and ethnicities are common, they are passed on from one
generation to the next. Therefore, the youth is trained to protect and safeguard family honour.

This type of group-focused violence is important cause of violent culture in Pakistan.(Zaman &
Sabir, 2013)

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 METHODOLOGY

After detailed search about the topic on PubMed, Medline and other search engines, i.e. Google
scholar data was collected from previous five years research articles. Then report was written for
presentation in an orderly manner.

Aim: To know about the scope of youth violence.

Objectives:

1. To determine the prevalence and risk factors of youth violence in Pakistan.

2. To suggest some preventive strategies for reducing youth violence in Pakistan.

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 Conclusion:

Youth violence is public health issue of great importance globally. Youth violence has high
burden of disease in developed world. The results of the present study show that the prevalence
of students' violence in Pakistani youth is similar to most of the other countries in low- and
middle-income regions and is higher than developed countries. Other findings show that some
individual, family, and society risk factors are important for youth violence and suggest that
interventional strategy and programs at individual, family, and society level are needed to
improve youth and family skills in management of relationships, conflict, stress and anger in
youth and society. In Pakistan better recreational and educational facilities for youth can help to
divert the aggressive behaviour into more positive and productive behaviour. Historical and
existent socio-political conditions have generated an environment where youth street violence
has emerged as a unique phenomenon in Pakistan. International actors invested in violent ac-
tivities during the ‘cold war’ era, the local political elite catch any opportunity to manifest their
control of power and authority. They did not visualize what would happen to the coming
generations. The members of the political elite promoted the war economy. They also maintained
their due share in the weapon industry and related businesses. The youth who were motivated
and became part of the Jihadi forces were encouraged to do so. The poor people have no work
but are living with the extremist elements. They were deprived of education, employment and
ultimately were on the verge of the poverty. They felt empowered whenever they got respect as a
member of the extremist forces. The perpetrators of the violence are not only the local elite, but
also international actors (as investors) who play a crucial role in generating a ‘culture of
violence’, as well as a culture of intolerance and extremism, in Pakistan. In this way, a new
social culture is emerging where violence is an integral part of social life. Sometimes, it is
hardtop understand whether an incident qualifies as ‘violence’ or if it is merely the result of a
‘fight for right’ and/or the right of self-defence

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 Recommendations:

Governmental and Non-governmental organisations and youth healthcare workers need to help
youth by providing online support, creating online platforms for young people to share their
worries and socialise with others, focus on making events and activities for smaller groups or
even just one-to-one meetings. This will ensure that young people at risk are engaged with
people outside of a criminal environment and feel the support and motivation to stay out of a
criminal environment. Parental counselling for children with violent behaviour is mandatory.
Psychosocial support system for youth should be provided by the government in teaching
institutions and communities. Policies for youth violence prevention should be developed and
law enforcing agencies should implement these laws effectively.

Effectiveness of youth violence prevention strategies, by context

1. Parenting and early childhood development strategies

• Home visiting programmes.

• Parenting programmes.

• Early childhood development programmes.

2. School-based academic and social skills development strategies

• Life and social skills development

• Bullying prevention

• Academic enrichment programmes

• Dating violence prevention programmes

• Financial incentives for adolescents to attend school.

• Peer mediation.

• After-school and other structured leisure time activities

3. Strategies for young people at higher risk of, or already involved in, violence

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• Therapeutic approaches

• Vocational training

• Mentoring

• Gang and street violence prevention programmes.

4. Community- and society-level strategies

• Hotspots policing

• Community- and problem-orientated policing

• Reducing access to and the harmful use of alcohol

• Drug control programmes

• Reducing access to and misuse of firearms

• Spatial modification and urban upgrading

• Poverty de-concentration

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 Glossary

Words Meaning

Youth……………………………………………….Children and adults of 10-29 years age.

Violence……………………………………………Use of physical force to harm others.

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 References:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Preventing Youth Violence Factsheet. Cdc.

David-Ferdon, C., & Simon, T. (2014). Preventing Youth Violence : Opportunities for Action.

Publication of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, 1–54.

Golshiri, P., Farajzadegan, Z., Tavakoli, A., & Heidari, K. (2018). Youth Violence and Related

Risk Factors: A Cross-sectional Study in 2800 Adolescents. Advanced Biomedical

Research. https://doi.org/10.4103/abr.abr_137_18

WHO. (2015). Preventing youth violence: an overview of the evidence. WHO Library, 100.

Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2IYPQLx

Zaman, M., & Sabir, I. (2013). Youth Violence in Pakistan : The Social Structure and Culture of

Violence. Social Prevention and Resocialization (Profilaktyka Społeczna i Resocjalizacja),

21(July 2013), 7–24. Retrieved from

http://www.academia.edu/3845781/YOUTH_VIOLENCE_IN_PAKISTAN_THE_SOCIAL

_STRUCTURE_AND_CULTURE_OF_VIOLENCE

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