Description
Violent extremism may be defined as violent resistance by one section of the society to confront varied challenges to its sense of self or identity. In the post 2003-2004 period, militant infiltration from Afghanistan into the Pashtun tribal belt of Pakistan resulted in the creation of 27 different militant groups in the area which led to the initiation of chain of military operations by Pakistan army. Consequently, 2000 tribal elders were killed and more than 15000 tribal youngsters joined the militant organizations. The paper argues that the military operations and the subsequent displacement of the inhabitants from tribal areas to cities/urban-areas has greatly transformed the socio-political institutions of the tribesmen. The paper examines that the awareness and transformation triggered by displacement has halted the enrollment of the tribal youth in the religious political and religious militant organizations. Since the merger, the tribal youth is politically more active and continuously engaged in holding nonviolent protests providing them platform to express their grievances. The study emphasizes that since the merger of the tribal areas into Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) province, relatively low extremist tendencies have noted among the tribal youth. The study employs ethnographic based data collection tools, such as semi-structured interviews, informal discussions and personal observations to reach its findings.
Keywords: CVE, Tribal Youth, Mainstreaming, Transformation, Radicalization, Militancy.
