Open AccessReligion, community resilience and countering violent extremism in Dir Valley, Pakistan
Author(s) -
Imran Ahmad Sajid,
Shamsuddin Ahmed,
Beenish Ijaz Butt
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of humanities, social and management sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2788-4791
DOI - 10.47264/idea.jhsms/2.2.16
Subject(s) - violent extremism , terrorism , criminology , political science , population , perception , community resilience , psychological resilience , sociology , social psychology , psychology , law , demography , redundancy (engineering) , neuroscience , computer science , operating system
The post 9/11 terrorism and subsequent wave of violent extremism has generated a significant interest in the role of religion in both peace and conflict. Religion is a significant part of the lives of a significant majority the global population. This realization has led policy makers to seek ways in which religious leaders can and had impacted the community resilience towards violent extremism. Swat and Dir valleys have seen the brunt of violent extremism in the recent past. This extremism was generated and exploited by a few religiously motivated violent organizations. However, we believe there were religious leaders who opposed this surge of violent extremism in those specific communities. This research aims at finding out whether religious leaders mobilized the communities for countering violent extremism. In order to do that, a quantitative survey was designed whereby a community perception was measured. The data was collected from 180 respondents from both the districts of Dir valley, i.e., lower Dir and upper Dir. Our data shows that religious leaders played some role in building community resilience. In terms of bonding, they played a significant role. In terms of bridging, they also played a significant role. However, in terms of linking, the religious leaders played a little role.