Abstract
The violence associated with American War on Terror (WOT) was one of the most discussed agenda items in Pakistan. A qualitative study was thus conducted on 120 students studying in educational institutions and Deeni Madaris located in South Waziristan Agency (SWA), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan; who were exposed to high levels of violent acts complementary to WOT. The study has been conducted by using phenomenological approach to record a realistic view of the tribal youth on terrorism and the associated WOT. The war experience of tribal youth has been recorded through interviews by utilizing Childhood War Trauma Questionnaire (CWTQ) and Child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale (CPSS). Besides concluding the sufferings of tribal youth from traumas like child’s displacement; separation from loved ones; being victim of violence; active or passive involvement in the hostilities; bereavement; exposure to combat; witnessing of violent acts; sustaining physical injuries; extreme deprivation and emigration, etc.; the study confirmed presence of high level of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms among majority of tribal youth and concurrently existence of functional impairments consequential to the said PTSD symptoms. Whereas, fearful feelings and glaring hostile sentiments for the proprietor of WOT were identified as the general phenomenon among the entire youth of SWA.