PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Like many in Pakistan, 13-year-old Kamran Khan's family did not have enough money to send him to school. He was such a promising student that a local private school allowed him to attend for free, according to his older brother.
Kamran never asked for anything, his brother Saleem Khan said. But last month, he pleaded with his mother for days to buy him a new school uniform, a white shalwar kameez, the loose-fitting shirt and pants worn by both men and women in Pakistan. He was embarrassed that his old one was worn out and patched up.
His mother sympathized with him but repeatedly told him the family didn't have the money.
She finally lost her patience a week ago and slapped the boy, according to the brother's account. The youth responded by threatening to kill himself if his parents could not buy him the uniform.
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Kamran then stormed out of the house, doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. He had burns on 65 percent of his body and died Saturday, family and officials said Sunday.
His family had been struggling to get by and provide for its children, even with the school fees waived. Khan's father borrowed money from relatives to buy a work visa to Saudi Arabia four months ago, but has not managed to find a job there, said Saleem Khan. The mother works as a maid.
The family's plight is similar to many of Pakistan's poor, desperately hoping that education will be the ticket to climbing up from the bottom rung of society. Around 60 percent of Pakistan's 170 million people live at the poverty level of less than $2 per day, according to the World Bank.
