The reasons for the high rate of suicide are mainly domestic violence, joblessness, poverty, etc.
JOHI: According to a survey report by a local NGO working in Thar, 35 persons committed suicide in the area in 2012. It is highly lamentable that the people of Thar have now taken refuge in death because they are finding it to be a cheap cure for the tormented lives they lead. Why have the people of Thar, who had been leading lives without any complaint, suddenly resorted to ending their lives? The reasons for the high rate of suicide are mainly domestic violence, joblessness, poverty, etc.
When people, who toil from dawn to dusk, are not able to have two meals a day or afford basic medical facilities or cannot find jobs, it creates disappointment, despondency and depression. Therefore, social scientists, the government and civil society must pay urgent heed to this dangerous trend and take measures to reverse it.
Gulsher Panwher
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2013.
