Suicide epidemic in Pakistan’s Tharparkar

THARPARKAR, PAKISTAN: In the month of September, 2023, a 25 years old Marwan mother of 3 committed suicide in Soonder village of Nangarparkar taluka over interpersonal conflict with husband and in laws.

“She got married five years ago, in the beginning, everything was going well, but after a few months of marriage, she told us that her in-laws and her husband were violent, and she tried to get a divorce several times, but we did not allow her to take this step for fear of stigmatization in the society. If we had supported her that day, she would have been among us today”, said Jairam, brother of Marwan.

Tharparkar, often referred to as Thar, is a district located in the southeastern region of the Sindh province in Pakistan. It is known for its unique and arid landscape, characterized by vast desert expanses and sand dunes. Tharparkar shares its borders with India’s Rajasthan state. The Thar Desert, one of the largest deserts in the world, covers a significant portion of this district. Thar experiences a harsh desert climate with scorching hot summers and cold winters.

Tharparkar faces several challenges, including water scarcity, poverty, and malnutrition. The area is prone to droughts, which can lead to food and water shortages. Rainfall is scarce, and droughts are not uncommon. Due to its arid conditions, water scarcity is a significant challenge in this region.

Tharparkar has a predominantly rural population, with a mix of various ethnic communities. The district is home to various communities, including Sindhis, Rajputs, and different tribal groups such as the Bheel, Meghwar and Kolhi.

According to the 2017 census, the Hindu population of Tharparkar is the largest in Pakistan, accounting for over 43% of the district’s total population. As a result, some traditions based on Hindu rituals and customs have emerged in the area.

The economy of Tharparkar is primarily agrarian, with agriculture and livestock farming being the main sources of income for the local population. However, due to the arid climate, agriculture is heavily dependent on monsoon rains. Livestock farming, especially raising camels, is a common practice in the region.

According to AWARE, a local non-government organization (NGO), 681 people have committed suicides over the last nine years in Tharparkar district. A majority of them were women. Total 70 suicide cases were reported in 2020, total 92 cases reported in 2021 and 154 reported in 2022.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) office record in last year 2023, more than 90 suicide cases were reported in Tharparkar district.

The number of suicides in the area in 2022 was 129, up from 121 in 2021, according to the SSP office in Tharparkar. Tharparkar has Pakistan’s highest suicide rate, second only to Chitral.

According to reports, 59 men and 70 women allegedly killed themselves in Tharparkar in 2022. The official records for the majority of the women merely said that their suicides were due to “domestic affairs,” but the locals are aware that this term is code for domestic violence.

Speaking to Kashif Bajeer, a social and human rights activist of Tharparkar said that negligence of police in investigation is major reason of increasing suicide cases. Postmortem ratio is zero, because there is no any expert medical legal officer in local government hospitals and sometimes due to political interference suicide cases are not being interrogated property.

He further said that Police always declares all suicide cases mental disorder case. Implementation of law is very low and we need amendment in laws. There is less opportunities in Thar, even people are ready to work but without opportunity how can they work? so they taken loan for flour and then they cannot pay back and most of the cases they commit suicide.

“Government should form a factfinding committee, including civil society members, police and psychological experts than they should declare it either suicide or murder. Tharparkar is totally different from all other districts of Pakistan, government should launch awareness programs and it can only decrease suicide. Only Tharparkar has a higher suicide rate in the country”, Bajeer added.

Inflation and unemployment are not only reason behind suicide but watta satta (barter) marriages, forced marriage, social transformation, sexual exploitation, drug addiction, domestic violence and depression are one of the major reasons of the suicide.

The numerous hardships Tharparkar’s youth face are further made worse by this norm. Four couples, ages 15 to 30, have reportedly committed combined suicides in Tharparkar since 2021, according to police records. These couples were from the same community, therefore there was no possibility that their elders would approve of their unions.

The idea of a love marriage is practically frowned upon in Tharparkar because of this strict commitment to social mores, which frequently results in unhappy marriages. For example, a woman in Mithi killed herself last year after getting married to a man she didn’t even like.

Baddho system locally, exchange marriages (also called vatta-sattas) occur very frequently in many rural communities across Tharparkar. However, such arrangements can regularly lead to the development of problematic dynamics due to the nature of these interlinked relationships.

While explaining the factors behind a suicide a local psychiatrist Dr. Lakesh Khatri said majority of people commit suicide are mostly belongs to schedule caste Hindu community and they are already deprived in society so inflation and unemployment plus violence increases the depression and it becomes a triggering factor towards commit suicide.

“In intrapersonal conflict between spouse, family or in laws men can go outside and share their thoughts to friends but women have no ventilation, they face same environment and it became aggressive and disappointed them and then they commit suicide, this is the main reason suicide ratio of women is more than men” Khatri told.

Responding to the us Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tharparkar office said according to law suicide is an offence and it has all the bad effects on the society. Police is also running an awareness and anti-suicide campaign collaboration with civil society and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) of Tharparkar. We are investigating every single case properly.

While speaking to the (newspaper name) Dr Karim Khawaja chairman Sindh Mental Health Authority said we have conducted many researches on suicides in Sindh, specifically in Tharparkar. There are multiple reasons behind suicides, our team working on this issue continuously.

“We have also submitted completed researches to the Government of Sindh, now Government have right to implement or take steps towards this issue” Khawaja adds.

Note: Names of victims and family members used in the story have been changed to protect their privacy.