RAWALPINDI, April 26: As many as 61 people, including 10 women, lost their lives in suicides and related incidents in Rawalpindi district in the first quarter of 2002, police sources said.

A host of factors such as economic problems, unemployment, breakdown in social values, societal pressures, domestic disputes, drug addiction and weakening family ties were some of the causes cited for the high number of suicide-related deaths.

Police statistics show that eight people committed suicide due to unemployment; seven took their lives due to domestic disputes, one due to heart break; and 25 due to other reasons.

Five died of burn injuries, four were suffocated, eight died after drinking poisonous liquor and three people drowned during the period in review.

According to the report the number of suicides was a record high, listing unemployment the main cause of the incidents.

Two incidents of murder and suicide were committed in Rawalpindi within a span of eight days. In the first incident, a lawyer, though a well-off person, reportedly shot dead his two sons and wife before shooting himself in the head.

A similar incident took place on April 7 in Adiala village, where a 36-year-old man strangled his two sons and a daughter. Later he committed suicide by hanging, the police report said.

Commenting over the rising trend in suicides in Rawalpindi, a casualty medical officer (CMO) said: “People commit suicide when suffering from acute depression. Sometimes it can be caused by external factors and at times due to internal problems.”

People who are quick tempered and express their anger loudly are less prone to suicide as compared to those who suffer in silence and keep their anger within themselves, the doctor said.

A prisoner in Adiala jail drowned by jumping into a water tank, despite being under heavy guard. A man hanged himself from the ceiling because of domestic worries, police said.

Similarly a 14-year-old girl shot herself with her father’s pistol in Dhoke Matkal and unemployment drove a 22-year-old youth, to end his life in Kalar Saidan. The three incidents took place on April 18. A 35-year-old policeman who had been dismissed from service was also among the suicide victims in Rawalpindi.

The upward trend in suicide cases raises a number of questions for the society, government and the police. The reasons for suicides as listed above require attention and remedy as well.

The rising unemployment with declining economic graph and societal pressures call on the government to formulate policies leading to more employment, economic stability and balanced price structures so that every citizen is able to lead a normal life without pressures.

The police report said it was the responsibility of all the members of the society to play their role in eliminating the causes that drove a person to take his own life.