Peshawar police launch operation against beggars

PESHAWAR: A large number of professional beggars were arrested and cases lodged against them as the police kicked off an operation against their networks in the provincial capital on Friday.

Police said that many of these groups are facilitating various criminal gangs operating in the provincial metropolis.

Thousands of beggars can be seen in main trade centres, outside restaurants and shops, in streets and visiting houses and offices every day.

The numbers of beggars in the city have increased manifold during the last several years. Hundreds of those begging on the streets are those young men and women who are physically fit and can better do other jobs instead of asking for alms.

“We are working to find the ‘professional groups’ of beggars who are operating in the provincial capital. In the first stage, almost a dozen of these groups were identified and over 40 beggars were arrested on Friday,” Capital City Police Officer Qazi Jamilur Rehman told The News. Cases against the arrested men, the official said, were lodged in the respective police stations under the relevant law.

The official added that more networks and their members would be identified and action would be taken against them in the next phase.

“The operation will continue till purging the city of beggars. The action is being taken on public complaints as well as reports of their involvement in crimes,” said Qazi Jamil.

There was no exact figure available with any department, the official said, adding, many individuals and groups have also migrated from other provinces.

The CCPO said that the police have separately launched another operation against the drug addicts. Over 220 of the addicts of ice, heroin and hashish have been shifted to hospital for their rehabilitation and treatment.

“The addicts will be made productive citizens after their treatment and rehabilitation at various hospitals,” said the official.

There are a number of male and female beggars who are also using different kinds of drugs. Some of the women also drug their infant children for the whole day while putting their lives in danger to get more alms from the passers-by on the pretext of treatment of their children. In many cases in the rural and suburban areas, female beggars supported by male members were also found involved in theft and robberies from homes in recent years.

A similar campaign against beggars in Peshawar was launched several months ago but the drive proved a complete failure as no preparations were made before its launching, causing embarrassment to the authorities.

“You will find a large number of beggars when you come out of any eatery, shopping mall, and mosque or anywhere else in the city. These beggars include young girls and boys from 5 and 6 years old to over 70 years old women and men,” said a Peshawarite, Azizur Rehman. He suggested that the young beggars should be enrolled in schools and provided monthly stipends while the elders should be given short vocational and technical trainings to turn them into useful skilled labour. “Only arresting them is a temporary solution. The government should take stern action against them but also take long-term measures for their rehabilitation and welfare so that they don’t return to the streets in the coming few days,” said Azizur Rehman.