No heed to ulemas fatwa on suicide, another boy ends life in Kashmir

Srinagar, July 2 (UNI) Ignoring the fatwa (edict) of Muslim ulemas against suicide, one more boy took the extreme step while another made an attempt to end his life in the Kashmir valley today.

A police spokesman said a 15-year-old boy identified as Suhail Ahmad hanged himself in his Kathidarwaza house in the down town city early this morning.

It was however, not known why the boy took the extreme step.

Panic gripped the area near the Deputy Commissioner's office near here today when a man jumped into river Jehlum. Howrver, 47-year-old Nazim Khan was rescued and taken to hospital in a critical condition.

This was the second suidide by a Kashmiri after the official Grand Mutfi of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Bashir-ud-din Ahmed issued a fatwa (edict), describing the act un-islamic on June 29.

Haseena Begum, wife of Khursheed Ahmad War, a resident of Hardoona, Vilgam, commited suicide by consuming some poisonous substance in her house while two Bihari labourers commited suicide.

The two locals attempted to end their lives by consuming poison on June 30.

''Suicide is an un-Islamic act. One who takes the extreme step would be in the same state till the Day of Judgement as revealed in the Holy Quran,'' the Kashmiri ulemas, including Grand Mufti said.

Sixty-one people committed suicide in 2006 while the figure has shot up dramatically this year and stood at 53 for the first six months of the current year.

More than two dozen others have survived the suicide attempts during the same period this year.

Tendency to take extreme step among the security personnel has not come down despite introduction of Art of living and Yoga classes to help them to cope with the mental stress.

About three dozen security force personnel commited suicide in the Kashmir valley during the past two years.

About a dozen other security personnel have been killed by their colleagues in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past.

A soldier was given death penalty by an Army court for killing a Lt Colonel in a Harwan camp last year.

UNI