CHITRAL, Sept 1: A 17-year-old girl from Attani village of Ayun in Lower Chitral committed suicide by jumping into the Chitral River from a bridge on Sunday afternoon, police said.
Ayun SDPO Ahmed Isa Khan said that preliminary information suggested domestic altercations as the immediate cause of the incident. The body was later recovered from the river near Drosh and shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Drosh, where a postmortem was carried out.
Police have started an inquiry under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ascertain the exact reason behind the suicide.
Earlier in August this year, a young married woman identified as Shehla from Nishku village of Upper Chitral also ended her life in a similar manner. Later, it emerged that she had committed suicide by jumping into the river after being blackmailed by a man in the village. Police have arrested the suspect identified as Junaid.
The growing number of suicide cases, especially among young women in Chitral, has raised alarm among civil society members and health professionals, who stress the need for counseling facilities, awareness campaigns and strong family support systems to address the crisis.
Published in dawn.com