August 8, 2004

In the last couple of years, the rate of suicide has increased manifold in Pakistan. Financial distress and social injustices seem to be the two main reasons for it. The fact that our society has turned a blind eye to the issue baffles many a mind

The act of killing yourself deliberately is not to be taken lightly. It is a serious issue. In recent times, there has been a noticeable increase in suicide cases in Pakistan, which speaks volumes for the socio-economic environment that many people in Pakistan don’t consider worth pondering over. It would be interesting to note that for every suicide committed, there are 10 to 20 failed attempts. Dozens who contemplate the act have not been counted here.

This year, the month of July brought along a number of suicide reports. In the third week of the month, 111 people killed themselves. Nine suicides were reported in Lahore and its surrounding areas on July 4 alone. What is going on?

Ironically, Minar-i-Pakistan, the symbol of independent and sovereign Pakistan, became the venue for July suicides. Within a week, four people made their “final exit” jumping off the historical structure, adding another dimension to its history. On July 16, in front of hundreds of viewers, an unknown 25-year-old man chose the Badshahi Mosque as the place to commit suicide at. In the last few weeks, the daily suicide count has remained fairly consistent.

In the absence of a national events registration system or hospitalization database, it is difficult to accurately describe at what rate the act is committed in Pakistan. However, the following bits of information may help understand the issue in a relatively better way.

In the first five months of 2004, the print media reported 203 suicides in Punjab alone, including 74 committed by women. Last year, Madadgaar, an NGO, reported 2,575 suicides in the first nine months. Another organization reported 3,475 suicides by women alone in the year 2002. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the rate of suicides in Pakistan is touching alarming proportions, accounting annually for 30,000 to 35,000 lives.

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death around the globe. In Japan, for instance, suicides claim over three times more lives than road accidents. Studies have shown that annually over a million suicides occur globally, increasing the burden on health care system. The worst loss is the suffering and pain inflicted upon the loved ones of the victim. Instances of forced suicides must also be considered here. They involve the loss of lives of helpless innocent people who would have wanted to live. For example, in a case involving a trio of suicides in Lahore Cantt, the neighbours believe that Dr Farrukh willingly committed suicide, while forcing it on his wife and mother.

In addition to the loss of life due to completed suicides, attempted suicides often lead to disfigurement and disability. Attempting to take your own life is an interesting form of failure that many do not regret. In fact those who are wise enough know that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

According to different reports, men complete more suicides, while women attempt or contemplate more. It is so because of men’s “macho” attitudes, high risk-taking behaviour, a quest for perfect execution and a low tendency to seek professional medical help. Empirical evidence in Pakistani Punjab lends support to the universal trend — in the first six months of 2004, men were involved in 64 per cent of all suicide cases.

Many people wonder why some individuals kill themselves. The answer depends on who you ask. In a struggling economy such as Pakistan’s, most people’s miseries start from and end with economic troubles.

In my opinion, not abject poverty but perceived marginalization, relative deprivation and disparity are the real reasons for the recent rise in suicide cases. The sense of contentment and value of hard work is fast losing its worth to consumerism and materialism.

If you ask a psychologist, suicidal behaviour is triggered by severe stress generated by serious personal crises. As perceptions of a worsening crisis hit home, control and self-esteem seem to wither away, giving way to alienation and isolation. Meanwhile, a chemical imbalance occurs, depleting serotonin, a neuro-transmitter that inhibits self-harm, diminishing agonized individual’s ability to think rationally.

To sociologists, social forces such as social cohesion or the lack of it, rather than personal troubles are the reasons for suicide attempts. Personal troubles are primarily triggered by rapid social change, leading to a sense of disorder, and in turn, to a form of suicide known as ‘anomic suicide’. The notion is totally applicable to Pakistan, a society in transition wherein clashing cultural ideas are infiltrated thoroughly, thanks to the Internet, the Western media and rapid urbanization. Other reasons suggested by social analysts would include promoting a social cause, detachment from society which results in detachment from life, and retreatism in response to situations when one is simply not able to meet socially desirable goals within socially approved means.

Retreating is a coward’s way of finding solutions, as Aristotle believes: “To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that suicide braves death, the person does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.”

Some argue that the media is partially to be blamed. The idea that media coverage of suicides may contribute to their rise is not correct. Social problems never get resolved without widespread awareness. No publicity as a solution amounts to throwing the baby with the bath water.

If the recent empirical trends in Punjab are anything to go by, “unpleasant domestic conditions” is the leading cause, triggering 37 per cent of all suicides. Ironically, these conditions affect more women than men — 59 per cent of all suicides committed by women occur because of this as opposed to 25 per cent of all suicides committed by men. Other reasons, in the order of importance, include miscellaneous social factors such as scolding by parents, poverty and unemployment, unrequited love, broken marriages and self-immolation.

One reason that is very prominent is parents rough treatment of their children. In good old days people used to say, “spare the rod and spoil the child”. The new models of child socialization actually recommend otherwise and want the child to be treated as a rational actor in the social arena. This seems to be working fine in the West.

In the contemporary Pakistani society, the confusion regarding values and a lack of clarity about their importance lead to the emergence of certain conflicts. Should parental authority have control over individual’s autonomy and self-esteem of the children? Or should it be the other way round? That again coincides with the argument about Pakistan being a society in transition, leading to many social ills. The chaotic tug-of-war concerning competing values appears to inflict more pain on the youth.

A quick survey of the recent reports hints at various other reasons, including social injustice. This year, in the first week of July, a 55-year old clerk with Pakistan Railways committed suicide by standing in front of a train in the presence of hundreds of people. He was appalled by his boss’s cancellation of his already approved sick leave. Here it has to be said that social injustice effects women more drastically than men, as discrimination against women is rampant in our society.

It is often argued that the Pakistani youth is sexually frustrated. There are very few opportunities for them to find potential mates. Sex segregation leads to gullible curiosity and misinformed romantic attractions. Insufficient sex education at home or at schools aggravates the matter. So when an opportunity comes their way, potential mates grab it without realizing its consequences. In this regard, take the example of Sajid Masih and Nadia Masih of Multan who were co-workers at an institute for special children. They committed suicide since their parents did not grant them permission to get married.

Marital dissatisfaction is another can of worms no one likes to open in our society. Strain in marital relationship may stem from a variety of reasons including mismatches, economic depreciation, inability to have children, work-related problems, and low social status of women. With divorce being a social stigma, and traditional counselling role of the extended family being increasingly shunned, individuals stuck in difficult conjugal relationship at times feel extremely frustrated.

Although abject poverty is a stark reality for those experiencing it, it is perhaps the relative economic deprivation that drives people to self destruction. A striking example is that of Dr Farrukh, his wife Maria, and mother who committed suicide in a posh neighbourhood of Lahore Cantt, in the back seat of a million rupee car, yet in their suicide note blamed poverty for their loss of interest in life.

A vicious nexus of consumerism, materialism and fragmentation of family has trapped many Pakistanis. They want to acquire more material goods beyond their legitimate means. The inability to live up to this “Pakistani dream” in the making leaves behind nothing but frustration, sometimes more than one can handle.

Prior to recent conditioning of our society by Western cultural imperialism, an individual’s social worth was considered high if he or she was a good human being. Not anymore. These days, economic success is the only yardstick for a person’s social status in our society.

So what can we do to prevent suicides? For starters, friends and family should be aware of the signs that a person with suicidal tendencies shows. Talking about suicides or making statements suggesting a permanent goodbye and showing signs of severe depression qualify as symptoms. The sense of not being wanted and loss of purpose in life are among the symptoms too. As friends and family members, we should take suicide threats seriously. Instead of arguing against the act, we should show that we care and that problems of a suicidal person can be resolved. A reminder to those at risk may be of help that none of the Abrahamic religions condone suicide.

A number of methods are used by people while committing or attempting suicide, which includes, strangulation, injecting or orally taking toxic substances such as pesticides, burning, getting run over by a train, jumping off a tall structure, drug overdosing and inhaling car exhaust. Both availability and socio-cultural acceptability determine the choice for adopting a certain method. Making these methods inaccessible can prevent many suicides. Educational programmes for safe storage of pesticides and guns, regulating toxic drugs through prescription, and building capacity of hospitals to handle attempted suicides can also prevent or reduce the damage.

Here it would be befitting to end this piece by quoting Richard Bach, an American writer. He says: “Anyone desperate enough for suicide should be desperate enough to go to creative extremes to solve problems: elope at midnight, stow away on the boat to New Zealand and start over, do what they always wanted to do but were afraid to try.”

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