Daily Times

LAHORE: At least 31 people in the city, including 15 women, committed suicide by hanging, gunshots, taking poison and jumping off buildings over domestic issues, poor financial health and stress during the first four months of the current year.

A majority of the suicides and attempted suicides were reported among people less than 30 years of age.

Of the 15 women, seven ended their lives by taking poison, three by hanging and one by drinking acid. A majority of the men also committed suicide by hanging, while three jumped off buildings and two shot themselves.

Senior psychiatrist Prof Mubashir said that some experts agreed to the fact that a majority of suicides was usually linked to economic difficulties, but there were other reasons behind committing suicides as well, like depressive disorders, domestic violence, parental separation, child abuse, bullying and loss of social cohesion, which force a person to end his or her life or ‘release’ them from the pain.

On February 19, 2017, a 24-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging herself from a rope in the Millat Park area. The girl, Nisha, a resident of Millat Park, was reportedly depressed over unknown domestic issues she had with her family.

On March 9, 2017, a 25-year-old man named Mustafa committed suicide by jumping off the third floor of the Liberty Parking Plaza in Gulberg. Police had said that Mustafa parked his car on the third floor of the parking plaza, during which he had exchanged harsh words with his girlfriend who was also sitting in the car. Mustafa became very upset after the verbal fight and jumping off the building.

On March 30, 2017, a 25-year-old man ended his life by swallowing poisonous pills at his house in Factory Area. Police identified the deceased as Zameerul Hassan. The family told the police that Zameer took poison after an argument with his relatives over some domestic issues.

On April 15, 2017, a woman committed suicide after allegedly murdering her two children in Issa Nagri, Shadbagh area.

The woman named Kiran allegedly committed suicide by hanging after drowning her two children Imaan and Matthew in a bathtub. Police stated that the incident might be a case of family dispute.

A senior psychiatrist said that suicide was a multi-dimensional disorder, which resulted from a complex interaction of biological, genetic, psychological and environmental factors. He added that approximately one million people commit suicide every year. “This represents one death every minute, almost 3,000 deaths every day, and one suicide attempt every three seconds.”

The psychiatrist said that these were just some figures, which appeared through the media, as most cases of suicides in Pakistan were not reported. He said that mortality statistics on suicides should be collected through a standard system of registration, recording and diagnosis of suicides at town, district and provincial levels.