LAHORE: Three people died in separate incidents in Lahore, including two cases reported by welfare officials as suspected suicides.
According to a spokesperson for the Edhi Foundation, a 55-year-old man died in the Mughalpura area. The deceased was identified as Noor Muhammad.
In Shad Bagh, a 17-year-old died for reasons that have not been established, the Edhi spokesperson said. The deceased was identified as Nabeel.
Separately, the body of a man aged approximately 35 was recovered from the bank of a canal in Mughalpura. According to the spokesperson, the deceased appeared to be a drug user. His identity has not been established so far.
In cases of unnatural death, police record the incident and the body is sent for medico-legal examination, which establishes the cause of death. Where a body remains unidentified, its description is circulated to police stations and to welfare organisations, and it is retained for a prescribed period before final arrangements are made.
Welfare organisations including the Edhi Foundation operate ambulance and mortuary services across Lahore and are frequently the first responders in such cases, particularly where a death occurs in a public place or where no family member is present.
Mental health provision in Punjab remains thinly spread relative to the size of the population, with specialist psychiatric services concentrated in a small number of public teaching hospitals in Lahore and a limited network of trained professionals across the province. Public health specialists have repeatedly called for community-level mental health services, school counselling and training of primary care staff to identify people in distress before a crisis point is reached.
Stigma remains a substantial barrier. Families frequently avoid seeking help for psychological distress, and deaths of this nature are often not recorded or reported in a way that supports reliable statistics or informed policy.
Editor’s note (safe reporting): In line with international guidance on the reporting of suicide, this report deliberately omits the methods described in the original source copy, avoids sensational framing and does not present the deaths as inexplicable or as a response to a single cause. Desk staff should retain these omissions in any subsequent version. Readers experiencing distress are encouraged to speak to a qualified mental health professional or a trusted person; The Lahore Times recommends appending the current national helpline details verified by the desk at the time of publication.
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