Suicide pact: Couple swallows poison for not being allowed to marry

A young couple swallows poison after their parents refuse to allow them to get married.

GUJRANWALA:

A young couple swallowed poison after their parents refused to allow them to get married on Sunday. The girl died in the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

The boy is currently under treatment in the DHQ hospital, where doctors have deemed his condition to be serious. Tariqabad Khokhar resident 18-year-old Muhammad Shakil wanted to marry his cousin Kulsoom but the family refused. The boy’s neighbour, Usman said that Kulsoom’s parents had already arranged her marriage elsewhere. “Both of them were planning to run away together but their families kept them under close watch,” Usman said. Other family members said that the pair had been quarrelling with their parents for weeks. A few days preceding Kulsoom’s wedding both Kusoom and Shakil swallowed rat poison pills. Both were taken to hospital, where Kulsoom died and Shakil is currently under treatment. Police officials have registered a case.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th,  2011.