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Press
Sunday 26 July 2009 (04 Sha`ban 1430)
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Abdu Khal | Okaz
In the early 1980s, some of our young men went to Afghanistan for jihad
and then to Chechnya and then to other parts of the world. Even our country
itself was not spared from the consequences of jihad because our society was
considered kafir.
This is a closer picture of what happened to our youths when causes were
united to create paper heroes around the world. All government departments are
now working to save our youths who were "ideologically" kidnapped as a result
of a continuous feeding of the necessity of jihad.
I do not think we will be bitten twice from the same hole. This is
evident by the Kingdom's success in combating religious extremism and setting
itself up as a model for other countries. We are now facing a different kind of
problem from the youths. If you carry out a survey of unemployed youths in the
Kingdom, I wonder what their number will be? I wonder how many youths have
failed to get university places? How many of our youths have dropped out of
schools? How many of those employed are earning salaries that suit their dreams?
If you count the number of youths who have nowhere to go to because
malls, parks and beaches are dedicated to families, then you would be appalled.
What will the youth do when they find themselves trapped and discarded? They
are left with few options. They may be obliged to go astray if they are not
duly rescued. The society unnecessarily antagonizes the youth after cornering
them from all directions. This will no doubt increase any criminal inclinations
that they might have.
Our youth are today cornered and if we fail to come up with speedy
solutions, they might explode. This is especially the case since about 56
percent of our population is between 15 and 25.
We should be vigilant that the coming danger will not be from the
religious youths whose minds were brainwashed but from the "cool" youth who see
life pulsating in front of their eyes and are left unable to be part of it.
