As we enter the year 2010, one cannot stop thinking of the tragedies we have had in the past year. A year that left hundreds killed and brutalized and thousands homeless in blasts we have lost count of. As journalism grows rapidly, it is giving voice to the middle class majority which believes extremism is not the root cause but just a symptom. If young people, particularly young men, are rendered jobless, they have very few opportunities for positive engagement. They are then a ready pool of recruits for ethnic, religious, political extremists seeking to mobilize them for violence. To sum up, the root cause of extremism needs to he looked upon to make this year less deadly. -MIAN EHTESHAM, Islamabad, January 1.