Owais Ayoub
Suicide incidents in Kashmir have been showing no let-up from past several months. People giving up on life might help them escape and evade responsibilities or give up fighting against the problems, but what they leave behind is dejected families and so-called motivation for others to follow suit after coming under a bit of stress, which Psychiatrists call the Copycat phenomena.
The suicides that need to be frowned upon must not be glorified in any form. Humans have the capabilities to tackle a problem, but the latter sometimes outstrips one’s mettle to bypass it. But, the build up of difficulties around one should not be a tripwire for the explosions of suicides, the sounds of which have been resounding in every nook and corner of the valley of late.
The cases of suicide—whether committed by jumping into rivers, hanging oneself or consuming poison—have defied one’s pride of saying their area is immune to such incidents, which everyone likes to dissociate from because it shows the true picture of a society. The rising suicides reek of several things from personal to political to societal and others. There is an immediate need to put heads together, than to harp on one’s suicide without any real aim, help in bringing an end to the rapidly growing suicides.
Digging into the cases of suicides in an environment like Kashmir, anxiety, depression, and hopelessness is bound to arise in the young ones and older ones as well. People of the valley suffered a double whammy by post-August 5, 2019 and then in a Covid-19 induced lockdown in the subsequent year of 2020, extending in the current year. These lockdowns have exacerbated the already worsened conditions of people’s lives, resulting in deterioration of their mental health, as backed by psychiatrists also. In the light of the unfortunate trend of suicides, the government should take cognizance of it and help find some panacea by examining all the possible factors behind the deceased’s taking extreme steps.
