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Unable to bear the burden of poverty, growing numbers of Pakistan's teeming underclass are resorting to suicide, with 2,386 people ending their lives last year, averaging almost seven a day.

Reports from across the South Asian nation show the suicide rate has risen alarmingly over the past decade or so. While 98 people killed themselves in 1988, the figure shot up to 332 in 1999. In the following year, 550 people took their lives.

Things haven't been any better this year. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 178 people took their lives in April.

Independent print media estimates say an overwhelming 94 per cent of victims are in the age of group of 14-50 years.

Social scientists and researchers blame unemployment and poverty for the suicide surge. According to the United Nations, nearly 31 percent of Pakistanis survive on less than a dollar a day.

According to official statistics it is difficult for nearly a third of Pakistanis to earn a living wage. Pakistan's Planning Commission pegs poverty at 39 percent in rural and 22.67 percent in urban areas. The Asian Development Bank estimates poverty in rural areas has shot up by 50 percent.

"The factors aggravating poverty are falling development expenditure, drought, a fall in the average growth rate, and joblessness," says economist Khawaja Amjad Saeed.

Ironically, Sharia, the Islamic code of conduct, considers suicide a graver sin than murder. And under Pakistani law, a suicide attempt is punishable by a one-year jail sentence and a fine of US$16.

That wasn't enough to deter Muhammad Afzal, though. Jobless for several years, Afzal, a resident of the border town of Kasur in Punjab province, doused himself with kerosene and lit a match.

Badly burnt, he lies in Mayo Hospital in the eastern city of Lahore in Punjab. "What else could I do?" he asks, crying in pain. As for the jail term awaiting him, Afzal says, "At least I won't have to find food for myself."

Muhammad Boota, a laborer, hanged himself in his tiny home in Hafizabad, which is a three-hour drive from Lahore. Boota, the father of three children, was having a hard time because of unemployment.

In Hyderabad in the southern Sindh province, where according to provincial minister Syed Sardar Ahmed 1,132 people have killed themselves in the last three years, a couple entered into a suicide pact and also killed their seven-year-old daughter by mixing poison in their tea. The reason: inability to repay debts.

"Poverty is a curse, when you are financially crippled, you lose your senses," comments college teacher Azmat Rasul. "Financial pressure can make your life a living hell."

Mere poverty or business losses may not be enough to trigger suicide. Says psychiatrist Muhammad Riaz Bhatti, "But a person may take the extreme step when there are no other opportunities and others paint a bleak picture of the future."

Observers say there is a spurt in suicides just before festivals when children ask their parents for new clothes. Cases abound of people taking their lives due to their inability to pay their children's school fees or meet hospitalization expenses.

According to Madadgar, a joint venture between Lawyers for Human Rights & Legal Aid and UNICEF, for every suicide, there are ten unsuccessful attempts. And ten percent of those who attempt suicide end their lives in a subsequent attempt.

Nongovernmental organization, Youth Helpline, has been trying to make a dent in those suicide statistics. But success remains limited. "Most of the calls we receive are about sexual problems. People with depression rarely contact us," says a counselor.

A Lahore fruit seller hanged himself recently after failing to sell fruits he had bought with borrowed money. Sadly, the fruits were consumed at a prayer service for him.

"We had hope when our father was alive. With him goes the hope," cries the man's eight-year-old daughter, Razia. Her mother and little sister wail nearby.

The only way out of this vicious cycle, say experts, is growth. Observes Saeed, "Public investment and development can improve economic conditions, thus raising hope among the unemployed youth, which will ultimately discourage suicides."

Despite a Constitutional crisis, the government has been trying to channel funds to fight poverty. Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz says, "We are to focus on social sector development and poverty reduction in a US$2.6 billion Public Sector Development Program next year.

Says Lahore's city district government head Amir Mahmood, "We will open a jobs bank and initiate self-employment schemes."

NGOs are chipping in too. The Family Planning Association of Pakistan, the largest NGO in the social sector, has been giving small loans to the poor in association with a micro-finance bank for the last two years.

It has given small loans to 2,300 people so far. But considering the number of people below the poverty line, that's a drop in the ocean.

"Investment, which can create employment, is not occurring at all, resulting in more stress and frustration, particularly among the youth. Poverty is increasing fast," says economist Saeed.

And so are suicides.

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