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Female suicide rate high in Chitral

CHITRAL, 07 Jan 09: Ten women reportedly ended their lives by committing suicide in the district during the year 2008, according to the information available with the district police. According to the activists of some organizations, the number is much more than that because many cases of suicide were not reported to the police. Most of the women or girls used the medium of water to embrace death as they jumped into Chitral river. In some cases, they shot themselves dead while no case of taking poison was heard of in the suicide cases. The human right activists said that almost 90 percent of those committing suicide were married one below the age of 30 and the reason behind their gruesome acts were domestic violence.

HR sources said that the perpetrations of the in-laws of the girls or their husbands were no more tolerable for them and finding no place of consolation, they preferred death to such miserable life. They further analyzed that most of the ill-fated girls had their step mothers and brothers who did not support them against the excesses they faced from the in-laws. They said that there is lack of awareness in Chitral about the women rights  who is did not enjoy the esteem till recently they deserved according to the teachings of Islam.

Such sources said that although the rate of enrolment of girls in the schools has improved greatly but the weaker sex has yet to get her right in the hereditary property of her father and has a less say in the household matters. They said that over the years, she is getting emancipation on social, economical and even political spheres but she is still far inferior than her opposite sex. They said that her consent is yet to be sought by parents or guardians while making decision about her life partner and this the beginning of the problem and results in mismatch.

The police inquiry in most of the suicide cases of the unmarried girls showed that they were being married forcedly to the persons they did not like or they wanted some other else. The social activists were of the opinion that mismatch is one of the factors of suicides of girls. They said that a girl eloping with her favourite is held in contempt by the society members as it brings a bad name to the family members and it takes a long time to wash away its stigma from its face. A police officer said that the inquiry is made into the incident of the suicide as to determine that whether the incidence was cognizable to police or not. He said that finding no ample and solid proof against any relative for being responsible to cause the incidence, the case is filed.

 The social activists also pointed out the frequency of the suicide cases of women must be taken as a social as well as psychiatric problem and mass awareness campaign must be launched to focus all the strata of the society. They said that clinical approach must also be adopted to address the problem but they said that not a single clinical psychologist is available in the district while the post of district specialist of psychiatry is also lying vacant.  They said that the religious hierarchy must be sensitized to arrest the growing number of suicides as the people of Chitral have special inclination towards religion. --(Zahiruddin)

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