Afghan youth hangs himself to death in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD (Pajhwok): A 24 years old Afghan has committed suicide by strangulating himself in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

The victim was identified as Zakaria Baloch, who held a bachelor degree in Political Science and was working as a waiter in a hotel in the Pakistani capital.

Suraya Subair, a representative of Afghan migrants in Pakistan, said Baloch had been living in isolation from his relatives and friends for some time. He had left his job as a restaurant waiter.

Subair said the motive behind Baloch’s suicide was poverty and starvation, a common issue for many Afghans living in Pakistan.

The refugee representative added: “As family members of Baloch were not here, the restaurant owner is helping us provide necessary facilities for the transportation of his body to Afghanistan”.

But Amjad, the restaurant owner, said he had not been in contact with Baloch in recent times and received information about his death through a police report.

She said the victim’s body — still lying at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) — would be sent soon to Afghanistan through the Torkham crossing.

Amjad said he was in contact with the family of Baloch on the handover of his corpse.

A relative, who did not want to be named, said that Baloch had been registered by UNHCR in Islamabad nine months ago. However, during this period, he did not receive the relevant documents.

The source said: “Four days back, he stopped contact with us and other friends, and today Islamabad police and some of his friends found his body hanging inside his room.”

This source claimed the young man hanged himself because his case was not followed by the UN refugee agency.

A bachelor, Baloch was living alone. Despite repeated attempts, Pajhwok failed to obtain comments from UNHCR about the incident.

Baloch’s friends and the owner of the restaurant are busy trying to receive the body and hand it over to his relatives at the Torkham crossing.

A month ago, another Afghan had ended his life by jumping to death from a five-storey building in the Gulberg neighborhood of Islamabad,.

aw/mud

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