- With rising unemployment and crushing poverty breaking the public’s back, the government has been unable to provide its citizens the most basic of needs: a reason to live!
“Hello? Mother? It’s me, Yasir. I am calling to tell you that I am in a hotel near the Railway Station right now. I have swallowed poison and by the time you get here, I will be dead. I am calling you to tell you that I want the letter in my pocket, my pencil and my watch to be placed in my grave with my body.”
Somewhere in the small town of Chichawatni, a mother received this harrowing phone call from her 19-year-old son. His name was Yasir.
Yasir was born and brought up in Chichawatni. He completed his I.Com degree happily, a diligent and dedicated student. To his dismay, his parents told him he could not continue with his education further.
“Son, we are poor. We have no property, no money, and prices are rising sky high day by day. We cannot afford to give you a B.Com education. You must get a job to support the family,” they told their disappointed son.
Infuriated at being denied the right to pursue his passion, Yasir fought with his family and moved to Lahore, vowing to earn and fund his own education.
Yasir, blinded by youthful hopes and dreams, did not see that the dismal unemployment situation in Pakistan would not provide him a job suited to his purpose. For several months, Yasir performed hard labour as a daily wager with his resentment deepening day by day, until finally on Monday, he checked into Grace Hotel at McLeod Road with the intention of committing suicide.
According to the hotel’s administration, they rushed to room 104 upon hearing loud crying, where they found a young boy in terrible medical condition. They immediately called Rescue 1122, who rushed Yasir to the hospital but could not save his life. Yasir’s last words: “I am not sad over committing suicide. I am sad because I could not continue with my education.”
Yasir’s aggrieved parents said that the country’s economic situation had come down hard on lower class families like theirs, because of which they could not afford basic amenities like an education for their children.
“My boy killed himself because of financial hardship and unemployment. My life has lost all meaning, the only thing I desire now is that the government take appropriate steps to prevent similar tragedies,” they said.
However, the new government’s budget and policy inclinations do not seem to indicate any interest in alleviating the poor man’s troubles of unemployment, rising inflation, increasing impoverishment and lack of access to health, education and other facilities. Given this situation, the number of financially motivated suicides in the country has escalated dramatically.
Several young and old individuals reportedly committed suicide due to unemployment.
Yasir gullibly believed that a B.Com education would improve his socio-economic status, however, Naeem Sadiq’s case reveals otherwise. Naeem was unemployed and in financial straits despite holding an MBA degree. He had no money to even feed his children, which drove him on June 20 to slash his four-year-old son Qasim’s and three-year-old son Nael’s throats with a knife, eventually doing the same to himself. His youngest child was saved owing to his wife’s agonised shouts, which brought their neighbours to the child’s rescue.
Further, on June 30, two youths namely Muhammad Mohsin from Sheikhupura and Muhammad Saeed from Noorshah took their lives due to dire economic conditions and unemployment, while on June 27, Adnan from BilalPark, Lahore did the same.
Others who lost all hope as they could not find a way to earn a livelihood included 18-year-old Asghar who hanged himself on June 18 in Ali Park, Manawan and 30-year-old Faisal from Khatyaala Sheikhaan who said he could not bear his family’s taunts any longer.
Similarly, on June 2 Tufail committed suicide near Burki area in Lahore, and on June 6 25-year-old unemployed Saleem from Okara did the same.
While the unemployed have been losing all hope to live, even those with jobs are finding scraping through enormously difficult. A multitude of suicides and suicide attempts owing to poverty have surfaced.
The hardest thing for a mother is to see her child starve. On June 12, Farzana, a mother of five children hanged herself to death in Chak No 227 in Faisalabad after many days of starvation in the house.
Further, Kanwal from Jarranwala, a mother of seven, swallowed poisonous pills, while Rubina, a mother of five, from Chak No 580 in Rajkot did the same. On June 2, frustrated with economic hardship and starvation, Aasia from Burki, Lahore also made a suicide attempt, joined by 21-year-old Jameela who jumped into Jampur Canal on June 14 and was saved by police on patrol duty. On the same day, Zameer from Yakki Gate and Farzana from Old Anarkali in the city also tried to commit suicide, motivated by dismaying poverty and domestic disputes.
Increasing impoverishment also has its results on family relationships, sharpening domestic differences and disputes. For example, on June 15, Shahbaz shot himself in Veer Singh Village in Changa Manga over domestic issues and debilitating poverty, similar to 55-year-old Muhammad Boota who swallowed poison after becoming frustrated with daily domestic disputes over being unable to provide for his family’s basic material needs.
Between March and April as many as 166 people committed suicides. Of these, 54 were women. In addition to these alarming figures, there were 90 such people who attempted suicides, intending to end their poverty-stricken, miserable lives, who were saved against their will by the community.
Rising discontent and hopelessness in the society, as expressed through this suicide rate, have their foundation in the tattered state of the economy, which cannot even provide basic reasons for citizens to live.
