Why Suicide Rate Is On Rise In Kashmir?

Dr Qayum Hamid Changal
Suicide is considered as one of the grave sins in Islam. And, also it is a sign of personal weakness and giving up, turbulent and depressive state of mind, misguided society, and oscillate government. In Kashmir, one of the major factors is the ongoing conflict and flooding of Valley with troops and restrictions by government. The source, root or origin is multifactorial. It would be unwise if we blame only a particular lapse and bury the rest. Though our society is proudly riding on the horse of so called modernisation and expansion, we are unable to eradicate the germ of social evils engulfing us like hell-fire. And, it seems we are okay with it. Isn’t it? It is like we don’t care anymore. Let us call spade a spade, there is a mammoth problem in our society that requires immediate clinical approach and elimination.

The ‘National Crime Bureau Records’ of India suggests that the rate of suicide is much higher than many other states in India. The staggering figures reveal that Kashmir has a higher suicide rate at 2.1 percent than the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh (1.7) and Bihar (0.7). And, the graph on the rise dangerously blemishes our social and cultural integrity. Since 1989, the rate of suicide in Kashmir has increased. Before 1989, the rate of suicide in Kashmir was 0.5 per 100,000 people. And, by 2007 it reached 20 per 100,000, double the all-India average. Most of them, around 60 per cent are the females.

If we analyse the above figures, it is easy to find out that the major reason for increased suicide rates in Kashmir is the conflict post 1989. Late Bashir Ahmad Dabla, the Ex- Head of the Department of Sociology, University of Kashmir, wrote in his book that 62 per cent of the suicides in the Valley involved women while men comprised 38 percent. The reason is very obvious, due the ongoing turmoil in Kashmir, women have been the silent sufferers.

The war crimes engineered against them by the Forces have had the direct impact on their psychological mindset. Rapes, torture, molestation, arresting their husbands and sons leading to enforced disappearances, and other associated war crimes against them, directly or indirectly, has psychologically made them weak and fragile. And, as they fall into the state of depression, they feel the only path to peace is suicide. It is not only women, but men too are going through the same phase. Dr Mushtaq Margoob, the leading psychiatrist in Kashmir, while talking to the reporter of The Sunday Morning Herald said, “In the 1970s there would be maybe four to five people visit here each day. They were psychotic people, brought here by their family members. After 1990, the number started increasing. By 1994, the number per year was 20,000, now it is one lakh, (100,000) people a year, about 270 people per day.”  And, by now the numbers have taken a giant leap forward. One in every five people in Kashmir is suffering from depression. Other statistics and researches prove that more than 50 per cent of people in Kashmir are depressed. With these distressing facts and figures, it is pretty obvious that rate of suicide too shall rise.

Alongside that, there are other reasons too that has added more salt to the wounds of our people. One of them is growing unemployment in Kashmir. More than three lakh educated youth have registered themselves in the employment exchange. But, unofficial reports confirm that around 25 lakh youth who have the capability and skills are jobless. While as the governments in Kashmir, past and present, have been laying their emphasis on tourism and attracting Bollywood stars to Kashmir, they all have forgotten the complexities our youth are facing. When you don’t have a good job, you can’t earn and make two ends meet. You get frustrated and start cursing your own self. It leads to depression and an attempt to suicide.

Another major factor that is digging deep is the immense pressure on our students to pass the examination with good marks. It’s the fault of parents where they have forgotten to teach their kids to use the failure as a ladder to success, and learn from the mistakes and move ahead. The results are out and many students attempt suicide, most of them die. We have incorporated in the grey matter of our wards that failure is the end of life. And, if a student fails or doesn’t get good marks, he is unable to cope up with the immense pressure. Thus, the last option he accepts is an attempt to end his own life.

Our weddings are so lavished and over exaggerated. We spend lakhs of rupees only on the meals, forget about other expenses. It is not only about demanding the dowry, most of the bride’s families willingly send expensive things worth lakhs with the bride for her in-laws family. Seldom do we care about the poor who can’t afford it. With these evil innovations taking birth in our society, willingly or unwillingly, others too are bound to follow the footsteps. Who suffers? Only the daughter of the poor who can’t afford it. With a rich and middle class setting a wrong example in the society, lower middle and poor class suffer the most. Their daughters find tough to get married, with their growing age the chances of them getting married diminishes. They ultimately feel themselves as the burden, rejection leading to depression that further leads to an attempt to suicide.

The factors are endless. We have grown into a very complex society where the cost of living is high and the value of life the least. Suicide by no means is justified act. Both the government as well as the public is responsible for pushing our own into this ditch. In my next article, coming Tuesday, I shall touch some other crucial points related to this growing trend of suicide in our society, and how to sincerely put our efforts to try, if not completely but mostly, eradicate it from our society.

(The columnist is a doctor and can be mailed at qhchangal@gmail.com)