Local government representatives, civil society, youth and media should work collectively in order to eradicate extremism, terrorism and rising poverty and to establish peach in the country, speakers said on Thursday. They expressed these views during a Lessons Learned & Networking Conference, organised by Individualland Pakistan (IL-Pakistan) at a local hotel in Lahore. The conference was attended by 120 members of IL-Pakistan from different parts of the country including local government representatives, members of civil society, youth and media persons. They also said that the country’s future was in hands of the youth so the government should encourage young professionals’ inclusion in the decision making process. Farhan Khalid of IL-Pakistan said that the main objective of the event was to encourage local representatives, youth and media to work together to counter violence and extremism in the country. “The goal was to counter violent extremism by strengthening the capacity of local institutions to implement long term counter violent extremism interventions through cooperative action,” he said. This networking conference was held to gather all the stakeholders to share their experiences by working together for promoting peace within their community. A participant said that youth, local government officials, media and civil society by working together have played a pivotal role in countering violence and extremism and establishing peace within their communities and this needs to continue. Another participant said that event has given him an opportunity to share his experiences about working together for ensuring peach and eradication of extremism, lawlessness and rising poverty. Mushoud Ali said that networking conference was held to gather all the stakeholders to share their experiences by working together for promoting peace within their community. Published in Daily Times, August 10th 2018.