to aware people from prevention of extremism

1. Written by: Mahrukh
Role of Sports and Extracurricular Activities in Preventing Extremism
Among Youth:
Extremism means opposition to the fundamental rules of government, individual’s liberty, and
ideology of any country.
Extremists are those who try to force other people to accept and follow their rules and ideology.
Now-a-days extremism is common everywhere and it is mostly affecting the life of our youth
and teenagers and it is a distraction for youth and teenagers. The most common reason of
extremism are as follows:
• Unemployment
• Injustice
• Lack of education
• Violent use of social media and internet
• Not willing to accept the rules of government
• Poverty
Extremism is not only affecting the society but also the humanity. Murder of innocent people
without any reason is a sin and extremist kill people like insects. The person who have humanity
who have kindness in their heart are afraid to kill a small insect, but now-a-days people kill
innocents on a very small dispute. People have lost humanity. Islam is a religion of independence
and liberty. Islam allows every human being to live his life according to their own belief. There
is a high value of humanity in Islam. Allah says “whosoever kills a human being without man
slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is as though he had killed all mankind”. So, extremism is a
big sin in Islam. Not only killing person is a sin but also violence on people is also a sin.
Grabbing someone’s property is also a sin these all include in extremism. Hazrat Muhammad
P.U.B.H said that “Ruins are those who indulge in extremism, ruins are those who indulge in
extremism, ruins are those who indulge in extremism.” According to this saying extremism is
prohibited in our religion.
Youth is a treasure of every country as the young generations not only secure future of any
country but also play a vital role in building friendly environment in the country. There is a
saying that “we cannot build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for future” this
saying highlights the training for young generation so that they become able to fight with any
kind of difficulty and contribute their efforts in the welfare of any country and nation. Young
generation is also responsible for the welfare of development or distraction of society if our
youth indulge in valuable activities they become the heroes of our nation but if they are

2. motivated towards extremism they become a distraction not only for the society but also for the
humanity.
Pakistan’s development is totally depended upon the contribution of youth. The youth should
realize their power and skills and polish them so that they can use it in the development of
country. Our youth should be trained, and they should have self-confidence and self-esteem. Our
youth should have self-actualization so that they can take advantage of their talents and use it for
the welfare of country. The real strength of Pakistan is that the whole nation should be united,
and it happens only when our youth is united and they are motivated towards the way of success
and peace.
To save our national heroes our mankind and future we should indulge our youth in such
activities which can be alternative to extremism. One of the activities among them is to indulge
our youth and motivate them towards sports and extracurricular activities so that they become
good citizen and healthy person of country.
Sports and extracurricular activities such as educational competitions, social working, planting
etc. keep the mind of young generation relax and peaceful.
According to psychology human’s emotion, thinking and behavior are linked with his physical
processes so, when human’s health becomes good his behavior is motivated towards positive
actions. He becomes able to eliminate the growing germs of extremism from his mind. It is only
possible by participating in healthy sports as sports are important not only for physical health but
also for mental health. Sports like running and football etc. help metabolism to work efficiently
whenever metabolism works efficiently a person’s health and behavior also becomes efficient.
Now-a-days video games and television are making our youth inactive. In order to be active
young generation must take part in sports as sports make them active and create friendliness
among them. Sports make them tough physically and mentally and help them to face hardships
and they become able to avoid distractions such as extremism. Sports also eliminates depression
and anxiety from mind which is a big cause of producing extremism.
Apart of this the players play in a team and teamwork produces sense of love and humanity
among the players which are the key factors for development of society. Teamwork eliminates
negative thoughts from mind and make it clear, which help people to avoid distractions and
extremism.
Furthermore, sportsmanship and coaching provide a good job which eliminates another cause of
extremism that is unemployment. Whenever a person is free and have no job, he becomes
mentally disturb which lead him to think negative and negative thoughts are seed for growing
extremism in one’s mind.

3. Sports are now included in the programs for development of a society and prevention of crime
rate established by many organizations and research centers. UNODC’s work on Sustainable
Development Goal 16 has embraced that sports in education has prevented youth crime rate and
there should be a proper way to indulge youth in sports so that extremism can be eliminated from
country completely.
Furthermore, there are many NGO’s in foreign country who aware the youth to join sports
instead of extremism. Global Analitika from Sarajevo (Bosnia) has started a program called NO
EXTREMISM in the year 2018-2019. The main goal of this project was to engage the youth in
sports for the prevention of raise of extremism among the youth.
In Pakistan, the TSG (Traditional Sports and Games Association) organization which is a
charitable nonprofit organization conducts traditional games. The main goal of this organization
is to promote traditional games and to engage the youth in sports activities so that they can be fit
physically and mentally. It also plays a vital role in prevention of extremism among youth.
Extracurricular activities are those activities which are out of our education. These activities help
as to gain experience and knowledge. These activities enhance our skills and confidence. Such
activities also help us to become physically and mentally. There is a saying “lack of activity
destroys good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical
exercise save it and preserve it.” According to this saying extracurricular activities are as
important as other activities in our life. These activities play a vital role in preventing extremism
as these activities provide a chance to the youth to prove themselves and to show their skills
Infront of world. A person can learn many things by doing practical work similarly, a person can
learn from extracurricular activity rather than reading books etc. so, in order to become a
professional and to accept real life challenges a person should indulge himself in extracurricular
activities. Participating in extracurricular activities produce a sense of humanity and love in our
hearts for others. We become able to help and sort out the problems of others through our talent.
Now if we talk about extracurricular activities in preventing extremism the most common
activity is social work. As social work is to help other as volunteer. It gives birth to the sense of
humanity and kindness in one’s heart. It preserves one’s soul. He gets love feelings for other
human beings and that feeling will never ever allow him to be extremist. As there is a saying
“social work is the work of heart”, it shows that social work affects our feeling and once
someone feels other’s pain then he will never ever try to give pain to them. Social work helps
people to overcome all sorts of challenges.
Social work also helps to eliminate injustice from society as social work is a support to poor.
Injustice is a cause of extremism in order to support the youth who are depressed due to injustice
we should help them with social working and to motivate them to do social working as a
volunteer which help them to heal themselves.

4. Social work helps to eliminate poverty as the hardworking social workers help the poor people in
many ways. They provide them shelter, food, cloth etc. which are the basic needs of life. Mostly
people are motivated towards extremism as their basic needs are not fulfilled once the basic
needs are fulfilled there is no need of getting distracted with any distraction.
Our youth should be engaged in such kind of social work so that they can avoid extremism. As
extremism is a tumor for society so it should be removed as soon as possible for this purpose we
should prepare our youth, we should train them for doing good deeds instead of leaving them
alone we should give them opportunities to lift up themselves and society as well.
In Pakistan YDF (Youth Development Foundation) is engaging and supporting youth from the
year to 2010 into social working so that extremism should be removed from youth. It trains
young generation for many activities. It is really a great work.
Another extracurricular activity is to take part in debate competitions which are held to give
awareness and to motivate young generation in preventing extremism. As debate allow people
for doing good deeds. Debate give energy to the young generation to do something unique.
Debate also allows the youth to speak confidently. It teaches them to tell truth. By debate they
can convince other people to join them.
iiDebate is a nonprofit organization which organizes debate competition for young generation so
that they become active to prevent extremism from their community.
Furthermore, cultural events play a vital role in preventing extremism. As people from different
areas come to share their ideas and rituals at one platform which gives a chance to youth to learn
new things. Participation in cultural events teach them critical thinking, new skills and builds
their confidence. By watching new things and learning new ideas the mind of young generation
refreshes and they are motivated to do something great for the welfare of his country.
One of the advantages of engagement in cultural events is that it improves the physical and
mental health of a person which is again a good way to prevent extremism.
Pakistan National Council of Arts organizes cultural events to promote cultural information. It is
a golden chance for our youth to engage in such events and show their talents Infront of country.
Volunteering is also another extracurricular activity to prevent extremism. Volunteering means
to work for an organization without any self-profit. Through volunteering you can pay back to
your nation with the help of your skills. Volunteering is a good way to benefit our country with
our knowledge. As Islam also teaches us to divide our knowledge among others it is a good task
and benefits as not only in this fake world but also in the real world. There is a saying about
volunteers “Volunteers are not paid—not because they are worthless but because they are
priceless” this saying not only highlights the value of volunteers but also the value of doing
volunteering. Volunteers have a great place in our society as they get blessings from everyone.

5. There are many advantages of doing work as a volunteer. Some of these are as follows
• Doing work as a volunteer provide us knowledge as well as experience.
• Volunteering produces a sense of responsibility in us.
• It produces sense of love and humanity in us and motivates us to help poor.
These advantages make a conclusion that volunteering is a best way to prevent extremism.
It is not necessary an organization for working as a volunteer by yourself. You have to do some
small tasks such as:
• Pay fee of a poor student.
• Buy food or cloth for poor people.
• Give free tuition to poor student.
• Share your knowledge with others.
• Invest your talent for the welfare of the nation.
UNDP (United Nations Development Program) in Pakistan offers opportunities to volunteers. Its
main goal is to spread peace and development with the help of volunteering. There are three
ways to be an UN volunteer.
• International volunteer
• National volunteer
• Online volunteer
UN volunteers are sent to remote areas so that they can help poor and resolve their problems
related to electricity, water, and food etc.
Through online volunteering one can connect with his team and support them to work efficiently.
It is a big platform for volunteers through which youth can contribute their efforts towards
development of country and can motivate themselves to avoid extremism.
Apart of this educational competition also play a vital role in the training of youth as this kind of
competition cheers up the youth and produce self confidence in them. With the help of
competition, they overcome the fear of loss. The will of hard work is built up in them. They are
motivated towards dedication and determination. Educational competition produces awareness in
youth and give them knowledge about many things. When a person becomes aware of right and
wrong then he becomes able to choose best way for him. He chooses right way and never ever
hurts the nation. In short educational competition are essential in prevention of extremism as
they provide awareness and sense of self-actualization.
In Pakistan there are many organizations which organize educational competitions such as essay
writing, debate competition quiz competition etc. Global Youth Association introduces many

6. educational competitions for youth which is a great opportunity to show your talent Infront of the
world and being appreciated by the world and nation.
Unemployment is the biggest cause of extremism. If we want that our youth must not motivate
towards extremism, we have to provide them job opportunities. Freelancing is an extracurricular
activity as well as it plays an important role in permanent job.
Freelancing means to work from home through web. In order to avoid extremism, we should
make our youth aware of freelancing. Freelancing not only provides a job but also helps the
youth in polishing their skills. Freelancing make confident and enhance their communication
skills. Communication skill plays a vital role in freelancing because the client is seven oceans far
from you only you can convince them through conversation. Freelancing make the person able to
understand the psyche of different employers. It allows a person to work with different people
from different areas which teach him rules and regulations of other country. It is an easy way to
stay healthy as there is no particular time of work, you can work whenever you want. It provides
you a sense of freedom and increase your potential to do more and more hard work. It teaches a
person time management, self-discipline and many more which help him to become a good
citizen and make him able to distinguish between right and wrong and once a person becomes
able to distinguish between right and wrong he will never choose extremism for his future rather
than he will try to do good deeds and also teaches others to do good deeds.
Positive Feedback from the employer encourages him to become more successful and to dedicate
more time and hard work towards his goal. Freelancing keep the youth fresh as it provides
payback to their hard work and their achievement becomes complete as achievement without
payback is incomplete.
According to a statistics Pakistan is on 4th
position in Freelancing, it means that Pakistani youth
is doing hard work in securing their future. This position can be uplift if more and more youth is
encouraged towards freelancing.
In Pakistan Digi skills in corporation with Virtual University is providing free courses of
freelancing which is a great opportunity for youth to develop new skills and take advantage of
their skills. There are many freelance marketplaces which are working effectively, thousands of
Pakistani freelancers are successfully working in different marketplace and contributing to the
economy of country.
There is a saying “where there is a will there is a way” means if we have a will to do good if we
have a will to do something for welfare of our country then way is constructed by itself. We
should devote our life for development of our country and we should take care of our country
fellows and it can be done if we and our youth help the country to pull it out of the extremism
because extremism not only ruins the peace but it also ruins the whole nation for forever.

7. Lastly, some advice to youth is that life means live for others. Do something for others so that
they remember you forever. Life means to spread happiness, among others. We live once so do
something that benefit your country. Do not waste your life in harming others avoid extremism
and leave others to live peacefully and join organizations which work for the welfare of society
and country. Do not let extremists to destroy your country. Contribute your efforts for your
country as you are the heroes of your Nation.
The country and the state should give opportunities to the youth so that they can show their talent
and contribute their efforts to the welfare and development of country. Government should
organize sports and extracurricular activities for youth so that they should not be motivated
towards extremism. Government should help the organizations which are working for the
welfare of youth and training the youth for future challenges.
Social working, volunteering and cultural events should be organized in every educational
institute so that youth can engage in beneficial works and it also benefits the nation. Youth
should be prepared physically and mentally for the challenges. We should encourage our youth
towards freelancing as well as we should indulge them into educational competition so that they
can be able to take a good decision for themselves and can choose a better way for their future.
There is a saying “opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long you miss them.” We
should give opportunities to our youth as without opportunities our youth cannot prove
themselves and they will not be able to take advantage of their talents, but it is their choice to
take advantage of these opportunities and whether they choose extremism or not.
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8. References:
Internet
Wikipedia
World wide web.