SARGODHA, June 5: ‘Collective suicide’ by three sisters in Khushab on Saturday night again raises the core issues — how vulnerable are women in this society and how economic and social pressures make people take extreme steps.

Gloom prevailed in Khushab and Jauharabad when the news of the suicide broke out. After autopsy, the girls were buried on Monday.

Initial findings by Dr Anjum Naheed suggested that poison intake had caused the deaths. Stomach contents of the deceased girls had been sent to the chemical analyst for ascertaining the exact cause.

As per neighbours, Rukhsana (23), doing teaching after completing MA Arabic, Humera Naureen (20) and Sana Naureen (16), third and first year students, respectively, were living together in a room of their house while their mother, Sughran, brothers Irfan, a student of Sargodha University, and Imran, a medical student, and younger sister Sumera lived separately with independent kitchen. The eldest sister who earned Rs2,000 per month from a private school bore the expenses of the other two.

They were not on talking terms with their mother who was reportedly pressing them to marry with her consent while girls were interested in some relatives of their deceased father.

On Friday last, two days before the suicide, their mother again tried to persuade them which resulted in a dispute. She thrashed Sana and abused others. Later, she got removed the ceiling fan from their small room as a punishment for their defiance.

The girls spent the Friday night without the fan in intense heat. The next night they, according to neighbours, opted for collective suicide and took poison by mixing it in ‘Dahi Bade’. At 11pm on Saturday night they were found unconscious. Sana died on the spot while Rukhsana and Humera expired at a hospital in Jauharabad, a nearby town.

Nadeem, an uncle of the deceased girls, also blamed his sister-in-law Sughran, whom he described as a hot-headed lady.

Police said apparently it was a case of suicide and hence no one could be held responsible. The inquiry officer said he was trying to locate the source from where the girls got poison.