Looking to end it all...

Five people try to kill themselves in various parts of the city.

RAHIM YAR KHAN:

Five people tried to commit suicide on Monday evening.

According to police officials, five people tried to kill themselves in two separate incidents on Monday. In the first incident, three members of an extremely poor family attempted suicide after the father ordered his sons to swallow poison after he had taken some poisonous pills. The family have been shifted to the DHQ hospital where they are in reportedly in critical condition. According to local residents in Muslim Chowk, Chak 365GB resident 55-year-old Azeem Bukhsh and his two sons, Muhammad Siddique, 29, and Muhammad Sajjad, 27, were jobless for a over a year.  On Monday, the three men swallowed poison and tried to kill themselves. “They were starving and had no money. Both the boys were trying to find a job for over a year but there was no work for them,” said a neighbour, Azeem. Hospital officials at the DHQ hospital said that the family were in critical condition. “They swallowed rat poison but we have pumped their stomachs. They are still in a lot of pain but we hope they will make a full recovery,” said Dr Mehmood Rizvi.

In another incident, Atta Kaleem colony resident 20-year- old Adil Ali took sleeping pills after his family did not buy him a motorcycle. Family members said that Ali worked in a factory at a long distance from his home. “He had been badgering us for a motorcycle but we said we couldn’t afford it.

On Monday morning, we had a quarrel about the issue and he left the house very upset,” said Ali’s mother. She told police officials that that night when Ali returned he did not speak to anyone. In the evening they discovered that he had swallowed sleeping pills and was dead. “He was in his bathroom and we took him straight to the hospital but doctors said he had been dead for several hours,” she added. Ehsanpur resident, 70-year-old Jam Samar tried to kill himself after his family disobeyed him.

His daughter Masooma Bibi told police officials that Samar had scolded his grandchildren for misbehaving with each other and they insulted him. “When he scolded my brother to discipline his children, he told him not to interfere in such matters. He said that he was old and should stay out of family matters and insulted him. They had a huge fight,” she added. Masooma Bibi said that her father had tried to kill himself by tying a plastic bag over his face while he was in bed.

“I came to check on him and he was barely alive. We took him to the hospital and they say he is in critical condition,” she added.

Police officials said that they were investigating each of the separate suicide attempts and had registered cases.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2011.