An article written about suicides among the youth due to peer pressure, society and parental influences.

1. Turn on to Life!
By
Yaqeen Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander
Life is the most precious asset and blessing bestowed upon us by the Almighty. Life is
a valuable gift which needs to be nurtured and cherished. All living beings including
the humans universally possess the instinct of survival or self-preservation which
ensures the continuation of progeny. Life forms the core of the nature & the
universe. In all the religious traditions, life is considered to be sacred and values
related to human life are respected. Islam considers life as an Amanah or Trust and
thus protecting the life forms one of the primary objectives of the Shari’ah.
As such, it was very shocking for me to discover about the recent multiple suicide
attempts by Kashmiri youth due to their poor results in higher secondary exams.
Even before this, I read a survey about the suicide attempts by youth in Kashmir due
to failed love affairs. This growing suicide rate among the youth of Kashmir is
alarming and losing our youth to suicides is a great loss for the valley. Suicide is a
very serious matter and this trend can lead to devastating ends and repercussions.
We cannot simply discard this critical issue just by calling it a consequence of lack in
the religious morality and social values. So instead of regretting the loss & passing
comments which makes no difference, we better should try to address this problem
and identify its possible solution.
The growing rate of suicides in valley brings our whole educational and social system
under scrutiny. If only had we realized the importance of youth and life, failure in
love or exams would never seem so significant. These events should contribute
towards our learning experience and help us to take charge of our lives rather than
losing it. We all have our destinies to fulfill as we make them and our destinies are
not tied to others. We have the right to choose and become what we want to. But
Alas! If only we had the right people to make the youth understand this before we
lose them.

2. Our youth do have the drive to excel but lamentably we have a lot of superficial
advisors rather than real listeners. We are the first to criticize and the last to
encourage. Our surroundings coerce the youth to believe in fake norms but not in
their own dreams. Thus, becomes blurred the vision of our youth with their
consciences muted. Our youth are not intellectually free to choose what they want
to. The parents and the society together are responsible for robbing the youth of
realizing their dreams, potentials and vision, besides depriving them of independent
and creative thinking.
Life is our most beloved possession. The million dollar question is what makes a
person mentally so motivated to give up life and take an irreversible step like
suicide? For youth, many reasons could contribute towards taking this drastic step.
Peer pressure, social demands and unrealistic expectations from parents are top
among the many reasons. We need to have more counselors to understand the
concerns of youth and to interact with them about their issues. Giving enough space
to our youth for realizing their destinies & talents, being satisfied with their progress
and guiding their faltering steps towards excellence will surely reverse this trend and
thus once again will we see our youth gleaming with progress and enlightening
Kashmir with their every step ahead.
(Yaqeen Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is the Executive Director of Inspire ME™ & can be
reached at www.yaqeenulhaq.com)