Youth Civic Engagement and Pakistan
By Fsahat Ul Hassan
We have experienced third consecutive general elections and transfer of power at national and provincial level. Despite controversies and objections by many political parties peaceful and on time election is very good sign for the country. People of Pakistan especially young people has played very important role in this election by casting their role and by participating in political activities during election time. But still there is long way to go, new government will have many challenges and one of the major challenges will be to provide an enabling environment to young people specially the young girls where they can get political awareness, participation in political activities, to exercise their right to political association which includes students unions, national youth council etc which is still banned.
Young people needs to activate themselves in Civic Engagement. Youth civic engagement leads to reduced risky behavior, increased success in school and leads to greater civic participation later in life. However, youth today are less likely than those in earlier generations to exhibit many important characteristics of citizenship. Youth civic engagement is an emerging area of practice and knowledge development that seeks to engage young people in social and economical development particularly in democracy through in-school and out-of-school time learning opportunities. As the field has developed, there has been debate as to what constitutes effective youth civic engagement programming.
Pakistan is 6th most populous country in the world having youth bulge of more than 60 percent of its population. Participation of young people in every field is limited particularly when it comes to decision making in Pakistan. Excuse behind not involving youth is that they are considered as inexperienced or immature. Reality is young people are the most energetic, enthusiastic, innovative and pro active but at the same time vulnerable too. It has been noticed that young people are being used in extremism and terrorism in Pakistan and all over the world.
Government of Pakistan started working on National Youth Policy in 1992 but tabled in 2007. Youth were involved in the process first time during 2007-08 and cabinet approved National Youth Policy in 2009. According to the 18 amendment in the constitution of Pakistan youth ministry was also devolved to provinces in 2010. After devolution Punjab, KP and Sindh has approved the provincial youth policies but its implementation and funds allocation is still a big question mark. There is lack of political will to invest in the young people by any federal or provincial governments accept using them in election or political benefits.
So it is high time to involve young people meaningfully in every field of life particularly in decision making and political process. We need to give them confidence so that they can play their role as responsible citizen.
The writer is a political and social activist, he tweets @fsahat
