Suicide in Pakistan was decriminalised in 2022 after years of collective effort by various multi-sectoral stakeholders. The campaign rested on the ‘Mujrim Naheen, Mareez’ (patients, not criminals) logo that tried to make people understand that people who have suicidal tendencies are mental health patients and deserve medical attention. The Federal Shariat Court has now undone these efforts and struck down the 2022 legislation through which that act had been omitted as an offence from the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The law, which has now been reinstated, prescribes simple imprisonment or a fine or both for a person who attempted suicide. This has led to a complex problem. During their campaign for decriminalising suicide, many psychiatrists shared that because of the law, hospitals have to involve the police when a patient who has attempted suicide is brought in. This could lead to the loss of the precious time needed to save a life.
Criminalisation of suicide is siupposed to be a deterrence to prevent people from taking a big step. But the data shows that is not the case. Suicide mortality rate (per 100,000 population) in Pakistan was reported at 5.64 per cent in 2021. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that in 2012, the rate of suicide in Pakistan was 7.5 per 100,000 people. In other words, around 13,000 people killed themselves that year. In 2016, the estimate was 2.9 per 100,000 ie over 5,500 ended their lives. Experts say the number of people dying is likely somewhere between the two figures, but the actual data is missing. Such a ruling also deprives the deceased’s family members of the sympathy and love they deserve on the death of their loved one. It is also rather disappointing that instead of finding the root cause of people opting for suicide, we are determined to criminalise it.
Despite initiatives taken to raise awareness about mental health, many people still struggle under the weight of crippling depression and anxiety. This is also due to the constant triggers they encounter. Over the last three years, people have been watching countries fighting with each other. The fallout from these wars on the economy has stripped people of their ability to find some joy. From increasing debt to skyrocketing fuel prices to scant employment opportunities to dilapidating infrastructure to almost non-existent basic facilities, the toll these challenges take on people’s mental health is hardly discussed. Past incidents suggest that people here have taken the extreme step when they were left with no other option. In a much-documented case, a middle-aged man some time back took his life because loan sharks were after him. Then, we have these gut-wrenching cases of parents killing their children before taking their own lives because they did not have enough means to feed their families. Stopping suicide should be our top priority, but before we see them as criminals, we should try to understand what led them to that point.
