With news anchors and news channels raising hue and cry of increasing suicides in the country (Ms. Meher Bukhari quotes it 7000 in last three years), and the reason coming out are not frustrations, “mental unstabality”, or emotional breakdown as in West BUT POVERTY, HUNGER, UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH, and NO SIGN OF HOPE.
The incident of suicides by a poverty-stricken rickshaw driver, a father of six, by poisoning his two little daughters in Shahpur Kanjran locality of Chuhng, Lahore few weeks back gained much of press’s attention. Hats off to our authorities who were still claiming the reason to be internal conflicts of home. Whereas, relatives blamed financial problems, indebtedness and a fear of homelessness as factors which pushed Mohammad Akbar to take his own life and of his family members. (Dawn, 2010)
This was followed by similar stories in all four provinces to reflect back to His Highness Prime Minister of Pakistan that his claim of no more suicides in country is merely a joke with the public. Interesting to mention, His Highness’s oath taking was saluted by two suicides too.
Not only to be blamed is our 80 member cabinet, neither more than thousand MNAs and MPAs, nor the so called “Military dictatorship” but WE. We as a member of society have been a successful failure to establish a proper social system, which prevents its members from quitting their lives. We are the reason that our newspaper daily carry news of more than 10 people being killed by a family member or a suicide due to poverty. An MPA from Punjab Assembly yesterday mentioned that an elder bother whose wages were suspended by the factory for last three months killed his younger sister just for a small stale piece of bread. Life was never so painful, never so horrible.
If each one of us has been fulfilling his own duty rather than blaming the government and other of not doing so, it has never happened. We have never realized that our individual contribution to society leads to a collective change. Good or bad, WE decide.
Humkhayal 