JournalismPakistan.com
June 18, 2012
Arsalan Altaf

ISLAMABAD: A year after graduating and frustrated at not finding a job in the media, Umair Zahoor, an alumnus of the Department of Media and Communication Studies, International Islamic University, committed suicide Friday - apparently an overdose of antidepressants.

Umair had topped his class with an excellent CGPA of 3.82/4.00.

Mohsin, a friend and Umair’s class fellow says a few weeks ago Umair had spoken to him about his frustration at being jobless and that he wanted to kill himself.

Umair was the youngest of five brothers who say there was no family pressure on him to earn. His father Raja Zahoor says his son would often talk to his mother about his annoyance at being unemployed.  

A few months ago, he got the nod from Nawa-i-Waqt Islamabad where he also did his internship in 2010. He quickly dispatched his documents to the newspaper's Lahore office for final approval but, much to his dismay, never received an appointment letter. This, his brother says, added to his frustration.

Umair was buried at his ancestral hometown Changa Bangial near Gujar Khan on Saturday, June 16, 2012.

(Arsalan Altaf is a journalist who has worked for Daily Times and Dateline Islamabad)