Daily Times

Pakistan is one of those fortunate countries whose majority population consists of youth. Approximately, more than 64 per cent of Pakistan’s population is young men and women between 18 and 29 years. This is, indeed, a very positive phenomenon for Pakistan because the youth bulge is always a blessing if their energies are used in a proper direction. Otherwise, the same youth budge can also be converted into a harmful force, if the state and governments do not tackle with their (youth) issues properly. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, under this Tabdeeli Sarkar, problems of the youth are increasing by the day.

I am sure the people of Pakistan still remember that the PTI is the same party, which fully relied on the young population of the country before the 2018 elections. Simultaneously, the youth also supported the PTI with this hope that it was going to prove itself to be a better alternative to the PPP and the PML-N. Although this has not remained a secret anymore that the PTI launched a dharna at Islamabad in 2014 with certain powerful forces of the country, one of the major factors behind the longer-lasting of that dharna was the participation of youth. Though the main objective behind dharna, which was continuously being revealed by the PTI leadership–getting a resignation from the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif–was not achieved immediately, the powers showed what the PTI wanted to show.

I remember a very famous sentence repeatedly being said by one of my teachers at Quaid-i-Azam University about youth participation in PTI dharna, “Today’s young generation consists of those boys and girls who were born after the Zia regime, that’s why they know nothing about the real mass politics and pro-people ideology, which was being professed until 1990 in this same country.”

Prime Minister Imran Khan, again and again, throws all garbage of his cabinet’s bad governance on previous governments

In short, according to his opinion, as I have understood, the young generation did not see any mass political activism and the youth were/are being taught an outdated syllabus in schools, colleges and even in universities, which have hidden the actual history of the country. Hence, because of this, the youth could easily be misguided and exploited by religious forces (Taliban), right-wing parties, and ultra-nationalist forces, who only aimed at utilising/exploiting the energies of the young generation for the sole purpose of radicalising them.

In my opinion, the same young generation is also very fortunate in the sense that they are living in today’s modern era, when technology, especially Artificial Intelligence, has opened many new avenues for the youth. No doubt, the period of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s was the era of progressive political uprisings, in which the major role was played by the youth, specifically students. But, later on, during the Zia regime, due to Zia’s so-called project of Islamization, a so-called jihad was also launched against “infidel” Soviet Union, in which many young men were exploited by the religious fanatics. Likewise, in 1984, a ban on student unions was imposed, which led the youth to be inclined towards radical religious movements. This was further enhanced by Jihadi forces under the Musharraf regime.

If the miseries and issues of youth under this Tabdeeli Sarkar were to be compared with that under previous governments, it is very obvious that the youth is facing more problems under the PTI government. Prime Minister Imran Khan, again and again, throws all garbage of his cabinet’s bad governance on previous governments. He holds previous governments, (surprisingly not the military dictators) responsible for all loot and plunder of the country’s resources. Indeed, the powers in the past used their influence to only gain benefits for themselves and no one cared about the well-being of the people of Pakistan. Yet, this is not fair that, on the one hand, Imran Khan is blaming PPP and PML-N for bad governance, but, at the same, his government is doing the same with the people. Even the PTI government is still breaking all previous records of bad governance, under which the youth are the most affected strata of society.

This is, indeed, a very disappointing situation that one of the major forces behind Imran Khan’s rise in power was the young population, and Khan had made many commitments to these young boys and girls about their bright future. But the PTI government is doing the same with youth as it has been doing with the media. Like youth, the media was also a major supportive force of Khan and his party PTI when he was in opposition. Now, since the PTI has come in power, the same youth and the media are facing severe problems. On the one hand, a larger number of youth, hailing from the lower and middle classes, are unable to get quality and higher education. Simultaneously, media and freedom of expression are at stake and Premier Khan is asking people to not read newspapers and watch TV talk shows, which criticize his government.

We are all witnessing how what was promised to the youth by the PTI before the elections were some kind of lollypop because still, we are unable to see any development in terms of empowering the youth. If the government is considering the “Kamyab Jawan Program,” “Hunarmand Nojawan” and real youth empowerment, what about those millions of youth who have received higher studies? What about PTI’s slogan of creating ‘one crore jobs’?

This is true that due to the youth bulge, approximately 1.5 to two million youth are annually being added to the job market in Pakistan, and providing jobs to such a huge number every year is the most challenging task in such unstable economy of the country. However, this is also alarming that still, the PTI government has not taken any serious measure to provide “respectful employment/job” to the youth. Contrarily, the government had cut 40 per cent educational budget, and a huge number of employed persons were kicked off from their jobs due to such a miserable economic condition of the country which shows a complete failure of Tabdeeli Sarkar in terms of what promises it had made with the youth before elections.

Lastly, according to an estimate, the youth of Pakistan is the actual force that will be electing the governments until 1950. Hence, the PTI government in the centre, Punjab and KPK provinces, PPP in Sindh as well as the ruling parties of Balochistan must think over this phenomenon that if they do not listen to concerns of youth at this stage, it will adversely affect them in coming elections. Youth is becoming more mature due to technology and other sources, who cannot rely on any kind of lollypops anymore.

The writer has a PhD in Global Studies from the College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, China, and is an Islamabad-based independent researcher