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Last week alone, five people attempted suicide from the Netty Jetty Bridge, now dubbed the "suicide bridge." |
KARACHI — In Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, alongside the abyssal Arabian Sea, the Netty Jetty Bridge stands high.
Every day, hundreds line the rail of the 100-year-old bridge, whether to feed the fishes and birds or to enjoy the fresh air and breathtaking view.
But others come for a totally different reason.
"It was around 3 PM when a rickshaw (a three-wheeler vehicle) stopped in the middle of the bridge, and a sober-looking man, in his 60s, alighted and started crawling over the fence," remembers Constable Ghulam Rasool, one of the police personnel stationed on the bridge.
"I shouted stop stop, and ran towards him, but before I reached there, he jumped into the water," he told IslamOnline.net, recalling last week's incident.
"I immediately called the lifeguards, and it took hardly three minutes for them to jump into the water to save him, but they could not."
The deceased was later identified as Abdul Razzak, a professor of Urdu at the University of Karachi.
According to unofficial statistics, around 200 people jumped from the bridge, currently used as a flyover to overcome the traffic in the city's downtown, to end their lives.
Last week alone, five people attempted suicide from the Bridge and police managed to save only one of them.
Netty Jetty has thus acquired the infamous nickname "suicide bridge."
Uncontrollable
Police have been trying to distance the Netty Jetty Bridge from that notorious reputation.
Constable Rasool says a police force is usually stationed on the bridge in order to prevent suicidal attempts.
"I don’t claim that we have reduced the numbers to 10 percent or zero per cent.
"But no doubt after the deployment of police force, we and the Life Guards have saved almost fifty percent people who tried to commit suicide."
Just recently a woman along with her two sons, one 7 and the other only one and a half, jumped off the bridge.
Police and divers saved her and her one son while the other drowned.
"We cannot control such incidents 100 per cent," admits Rasool.
"This is a huge bridge.
"In most of the cases, the people who plan to commit suicide hire a cab or drive their own vehicles because pedestrian are not allowed to climb the bridge," he explains.
"As soon as they find out a vacant area, they stop the vehicle, and jump into the water."
Different Reasons
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"In a country like Pakistan, where grinding poverty has forced people to sell their children and body organs, the increasing numbers of suicide cases are understandable," says Rizvi.
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Experts believe suicidal people chose the Netty Jetty Bridge as the easiest way to end their lives.
"Jumping in the sea might be the easiest way which is perceived as giving less pain," Dr. Haider Rizvi, head of the psychology department at the University of Karachi, told IOL.
He notes that reasons behind the decision to take one's own life vary, but for Pakistanis, it is mostly about despair.
The grinding poverty, impatience and intolerance in society are seen as some of the main reasons behind the growing number of suicides, adds Rizvi.
"Suicide is quite a delicate and multifaceted problem."
A government study last April found that 4 people in the South Asian Muslim country commit suicide every day.
The psychology expert says the majority of suicide cases are usually linked to economic difficulties.
"In a country like Pakistan, where grinding poverty has forced people to sell their children and body organs, the increasing numbers of suicide cases are understandable," he argues.
"And of course economic turmoil cannot be excluded from political turmoil. Both are inter-connected."
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