Pakistan

Teenage boy shoots girl, then himself on school premises

Couple leaves behind suicide notes, asking parents to bury them together

Photo: Aysha Saleem/Yusra Salim September 01, 2015

A teenage boy shot a 15-year-old girl and then himself at their school premises in Soldier Bazaar. PHOTO: AYSHA SALEEM/EXPRESS

KARACHI: A teenage boy shot a girl and then himself on the premises of Gulshan-e-Fatima school in Soldier Bazaar on Tuesday morning.

All the students were gathered in the assembly hall when they heard two gunshots, a minute apart, inside a classroom. The teachers and some administration staff rushed to the classroom and found the two Matric students lying in a pool of blood. It appeared that 16-year-old N* shot 15-year-old F* and then himself in a successful attempt at suicide.

"It was around 8:15am when I heard a gunshot and when I reached the classroom, both [the students] were dead," said a school guard.

Read: Back to school: Educational institutions to tighten security

"I was present in the classroom when the bell rang for the assembly," F's friend recalled, adding that she asked her to come along but she refused and told me to go ahead. Her friend overheard F telling N to shoot her first and then, after five minutes, they heard the gunshot.

N and F used to study in the same class and coaching centre and also used the same van to reach the school. One of their class fellows added that the two lived in the same neighbourhood as well. "Their love story started a year ago," said one of their class fellows. "I had heard him saying many times that he will kill her and himself if he is unable to marry her."

The young couple, one of whom belonged to the Ismaili community and the other from the Hazara community, had left behind two suicide notes for their parents. Both of them said that they were aware that their parents would never allow them to get married which is why they decided to take their lives. Both letters, which appear to be written by the same person, requested the parents to honour their dying wish to be buried next to each other.

"N had been bringing a gun to school for the last last three days and kept saying that he will kill himself and F also," said a friend. "I thought he was just joking because he usually talks like this, which is why we never informed our principal." However, the police officials said that the gun belonged to F's father and she was the one who brought it to school. Soldier Bazaar SHO Irshad Soomro said that they have confiscated the couple's school bags, the pistol and the two letters. The police found another letter from N in her books. The teenage boy had asked her to bring the gun to school on Tuesday so they can commit suicide, said Soomro, adding that the gun had only two bullets that were used in the incident.

Another class fellow said the two would always say that they will kill each other if their families did not allow them to get married. "They had cut their wrists a few months ago to warn their parents," she added.

* Names withheld to protect identities

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2015.

COMMENTS (8)

Saira | 9 years ago | Reply Parents should be aware of what is happening to their child. When parents don't take interest in their children and leave them on their own then children can fall into any bad company or habit. Parents should understand the Psychological, Mental and Emotional needs of their children.But it 's sad that most parents don't realize this. Teenagers go through a difficult period at this stage in their lives. No matter how small or big their problems, their troubles may feel unbearable. Noticeable changes in behavior, such as withdrawal from friends and family or violent and aggressive behavior, are among the many signs of potential teen suicide Suffering through a major disappointment such as rejection, loss of a boyfriend or girlfriend and failure at school or in sports may trigger suicidal tendencies in teenagers, who have difficulty coping with these kinds of situations. These circumstances alone may not be responsible for suicide, but they are factors that contribute to a teenager taking extreme measures. Parents should keep a close eye on their children and should notice any change in their behavior. Co-education and Indian movies do have their side effects but these are not the only factors to blame, there are other factors such as stress, sense of rejection, depression, abuse etc which cause such extreme actions.

Emi Khan | 9 years ago | Reply I think that the system of co education is wrong cuz they r teenagers and they doesn't knew which path is right for them.

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Dr Irfan khan | 9 years ago | Reply Co education is not a cause of this the cause behind it is Emotions feelings bcz this age of children is too crazy age which is known as Soldier age where youth dont understand any thing that whats wrong or right either they love someone or hate someone

Irfan | 9 years ago | Reply Dear friends, Co education is not factor behind this. Co education can help both male female how tu behave in a society you are living this is just simply the case of non attention by parents and the environment in surrondings both are non matures but one should have to their to monitor the activities of these childs in both families. This is just simply the sick obsession.

iqbal | 9 years ago | Reply @Bilal: co-education is definitely NOT to blame. Such incidents of having affairs occur in all girls or all boys school as well. I have witnessed secret affairs. It is not the Co-Education system that has corrupted the minds BUT the films, songs and social media influence along with narrow-minded parental guidance to kids.

Bilal | 9 years ago | Reply Brother is absolutely right. Our so called Islamic state should definitely have abandoned the co education system long time ago, these are the consequences we receive at the end. If not suicide then of course other illegal affairs between the Muslim community are obviously found. I request all of the school management of Pakistan to help maintaining the country by fulfilling the glorious commands of Allaah.

Abu Bakr | 9 years ago | Reply Don't blame co-education schools for such incidents. In-fact this is the only one incident took place in co-education. The parents and low standard school are to blame for this unfortunate incident.

Sohail | 9 years ago | Reply That's the fruit of the so-called advanced education system of co-education! I don't know when we (as a nation as well as at individual level) will wake up from our sleep-mode following of other systems without valuing its pros and cons.

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