Beggars swarm markets claiming to be rain victims

Rawalpindi:Hordes of professional beggars are now often seen roaming in the markets and bazaars falsely claiming that they have lost all their belongings in recent rains to get sympathies with the visitors.

These beggars give reference to different areas like Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh and try to befool the visitors to mint money from them. Now they can be found in every nook and corner of this city.

“When the earthquake hit Pakistan in 2005 we saw professional beggars who begged for years showing themselves quake-affected people. After massive floods of 2010, the groups of professional beggars adopted the same tactic to befool the people,” said Mukhtar Ahmad, a visitor in Saddar area.

He said the beggars are roaming at the Saddar market in groups comprising men, women, and children and trying to pose as rain-affected people to get sympathy from the visitors. The influx of professional beggars in the city is on the rise and they also use tactics like aggressive attitude to create the nuisance especially for female visitors.

The women and child beggars continue to chase visitors and use every tactic to achieve their ‘target’. Sometimes untoward incidents are also seen involving beggars and women shoppers. This phenomenon has become a complex and multifaceted challenge to deal with because of its nature and changing forms as it also involves children.

The beggars have also occupied main traffic signals of the city and keep on irritating the motorists by thronging at vehicles asking for alms. Azhar Javed, a social scientist, said “Professional beggary has become a social menace and most of the people who turn towards this profession consider it a profitable business.”

He said some steps like action against ‘contractors’ who make people come to this profession and provision of alternative source of income for beggars can effectively help remove this illegal practice from the society.