Newham’s Truce 20/20 project will tonight be meeting a young woman who risks her life for peace in Pakistan.

Saba Ismail, 25, will be in the borough to visit Truce 20/20 and to help young Londoners handle conflict and avoid violence on the streets. She will also be sharing with them her insights from persuading young people in Pakistan not to be recruited into violent militant groups.

Saba currently works at countering extremism in Khyber Phakhtunkhwa, the turbulent region on the border with Afghanistan where over 4,000 people have been killed in suicide attacks in the past three years. She also promotes women’s rights in one of the world’s most dangerous countries to be a woman.

Saba is the Director of Aware Girls, an organisation she set up when she was just 15, which has trained 75 young volunteers in how to counter radicalisation and violence and empowers young women, protecting their rights. They have already reached around 750 young people through study circles and one-to-one meetings, and have persuaded them to turn away from extremist violence. They help young people – some as young as 13 – to renounce militancy by challenging their belief that violence is the answer.

She has recently met Malala Yousafzai, the young girl who became a world icon when she was shot by the Taliban last year, and pledged support to Malala’s work.