KARACHI, June 5: As many as 889 people committed suicide in different areas of the country from January to May this year.

In the reported 889 cases, 556 men, 234 women, 69 male children and 30 female children committed suicide.

A report compiled by Madadgar, a child helpline of the Lawyers for Human Rights & Legal Aid, says all these cases have been reported in the leading newspapers of the country. Out of the 556 cases of male suicide, 113 were reported in January, 108 in February, 99 in March, 126 in April and 110 cases in May 2002.

During the same time there were also 200 cases of attempted suicide. Of these cases 39 were reported in January, 39 in February, 29 in March, 55 in April and 39 cases in May 2002.

234 cases of hara-kari were acknowledged in the print media. Out of these cases 49 occurred in January, 37 in February, 30 in March, 64 in April and 54 cases were reported in May. During the same time 139 women attempted suicide; of these 30 in January, 36 in February, 19 in March, 25 in April and in May 29 women tried to commit suicide.

There were 69 cases of male child suicide published in the newspapers during the same period. In January 19 cases were reported, in February 11, in March 11, in April 16 and in May 12 male children committed suicide and 15 male children attempted suicide.

29 cases of suicide by female children were reported, out of these 10 cases were reported in January, 2 in February, 8 in March, 6 in April and 3 cases were highlighted in May 2002. During the same time 11 female children attempted suicide.—PPI