Suicides in Hazara: 10 deaths reported in two months

The collected data identifies family and monetary issues as key suspects.

HARIPUR:

Incidents of attempted and committed suicides have increased drastically over last two months in Hazara Division. As many as 10 deaths suicide cases have been reported from across three districts of the region.

Haripur

Four people including a woman, committed suicide owing to financial problems in Haripur. Meanwhile, Waris Khan, 25, a resident of Malikyar village, consumed rat poison and was taken to Women and Children Hospital. Luckily, he survived.

Mansehra

Four people including an under-trial prisoner attempted suicide in Mansehra. The prisoner, who was facing charges of drug smuggling, allegedly slashed his throat with a blade, during detention at the district jail. However, some inmates and jail staff managed to rescue him by taking him to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital where his condition stablised.

In a separate incident, a teenage boy committed suicide over a minor dispute. Police said that Rashid Iqbal, 18, son of Muhammad Iqbal of Thandi Khoe Bela village, was playing cricket with his young brother and cousins in the street when they entered into brawl over a minor issue. After exchanging harsh words, Rashid went home and shot at his temple, dying on the spot.



Abbottabad

Meanwhile, one suicide was reported from Abbottabad where a childless woman in her twenties, committed suicide by shooting at her temple. Four others hanged themselves, while four still shot at themselves and one consumed rat poison, the police record suggests.

According to a media monitoring exercise conducted by Human Development Organisation (HDO), 15 women and four men committed suicide during 2011 while during 2012, as many as 16 women and six men committed suicide.

When contacted, Sara Khan the psychologist at HDO, said that psycho-social adjustment issues are the key factors behind ever increasing rate of suicides in the area. She said that monetary  issues, uneasy marital relations and domestic violence are some of the main reasons.

She further said that such problems make people vulnerable to depression and anxiety that in turn can lead to suicidal tendencies.

Quoting some international studies on mental health issues, she said that 30% of Pakistan’s female population is suffering psychological problems, which is the highest in the Indian subcontinent. She added that since the mental health has always remained on low priority for health authorities and was never integrated with general health, the growing incidents of suicide, domestic violence, deviant behaviors, hypertension and related issues manifested themselves through such mental disorders.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2013.