CHAKWAL: Two toddlers were left abandoned after their poverty-stricken parents died by suicide, police sources said on Saturday.

The incident occurred in Chak Chakora village within the jurisdiction of Dohman Police Station on Friday evening.

Mohammad Nadeem, 42, was first married to a close relative. He had seven daughters and a son from his first wife. His eldest son is 25, while his seven daughters are 22, 20, 18, 12, 10, 7, and 5 years old, respectively. His eldest son, Naveed Ali, and his three elder daughters are married.

Three years ago, Nadeem entered into a love marriage with Asima Bibi, 32, from Gujarat. Asima bore him two sons. One child is two years old, while the other is barely one year old.

Nadeem was living with his second wife and also looked after his three minor daughters from his first wife.

“Nadeem was a refrigerator mechanic and ran a small shop at Pir Phulahi Stop, but the income he earned was too meagre to feed his large family,” a police official told Dawn.

On Friday evening, Nadeem and his second wife, Asima, were at the house of Nadeem’s brother in Pir Phulahi village, where the husband and wife had a verbal altercation. Asima left the place, leaving her two minor sons behind, and went to her own house in Chakora. When Nadeem noticed that she had not returned for her minor children, he rushed to his home. As he entered the house, he found his wife lying dead on a charpoy. Nadeem then used his wife’s dupatta to hang himself.

“The elders of my stepmother arrived here last night and took her body to Gujarat, but left the two little children with us,” Nadeem’s elder son from his first wife, who works as a hawker selling utensils in villages and also has three minor sons, told Dawn.

“The unfortunate couple was living in abject poverty, as we found no food in the house,” a police official said.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2026