Irshadullah Khan
CHITRAL: A 15-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide by shooting herself with a gun and the same bullet accidentally also killed her uncle in Prayit village of Lower Chitral on Wednesday night (December 28).
It is being claimed that the girl was mentally unstable and had left home after estrangement with her family and reached Chitral town and was staying with a relative at Chew Doke. Later, some members of her family came and took her back in a vehicle.
According to the police, after reaching the Prayit village, the teenage girl shot herself dead with a handgun and the bullet also killed her elderly uncle who was in the same vehicle.
The girl has been identified as Jamila, daughter of Jalilur Rehman, and her uncle as Abdul Haq, father of five.
On the face of it, the case seems highly suspicious and needs proper investigation to bring out facts. Questions here rise how and from where the 15-year-old \’mentally unstable girl\’ had gotten the gun and was carrying it unnoticed when she was being taken home in a vehicle by her family members.
When a police spokesman was contacted on Thursday, he confirmed the incident but said details could be given after completion of the investigation, including the receipt of the postmortem reports.
Suicide cases among young people in Chitral has been on the rise, but most of these cases are not properly investigated by police. Many suicide cases have turned out to be premeditated murder after being declared suicide by their relatives.
According to a report published in this newspaper, domestic violence has been one of the main factors behind rising suicide among young people, mostly women, in Chitral. But in most of such cases investigation is closed when families of the victims declare the deaths as suicide.
The role of the police is deplorable and condemned in this case as in other such cases. The district police officer (DPO) should clear his position instead of burying the issue under the carpet.
What we we got to see in the media shortly after the incident I am dead sure it is not a suicide case.
Still the police has time to properly investigate the matter or else we will take up the matter with the human rights organizations.
We will request human rights organizations to visit the area where the incident took place and expose all those trying to hush up things. The local media reported it in a twisted manner what the police told them without ascertaining the facts.
A high-powered team must be sent to the area to ascertain the facts as neither police nor the local media reported the true story as it was not a suicide case.