Resumo de Beggars, Beggars Everywhere

It is widely accepted that the boom in the begging business witnessed in the metropolis during the month of Ramazan is due to the absence of any mechanism to combat and curtail this menace.

Beggars arriving from upcountry and especially from the interior of Sindh, flock to Karachi, which is viewed as one of the most lucrative cities, and take up strategic positions at all major bus stops and roundabouts of the city.

In the month of Ramazan, busy thoroughfares such as Tibet Centre, Old Numaish, Liaquatabad and other areas are the main attraction for beggars. These positions normally offer returns of 200 to 300 rupees per day, but, in the Holy month the earnings harvested can easily touch 500 per day in the daylight alone.

At night, the beggars throng to the busiest shopping centres of the city attempting to pester shoppers into giving them additional money. When this reporter spoke to some of the customers, they admitted that due to the heavy influx of beggars, they avoided going to shopping centres after iftar.

In fact, major roundabouts and traffic intersections are sold by the beggar?s mafia for a premium with a share of the earnings also going to the complicit area police.

Moreover, owing to their refusal to accept coins and their incessant demand for bills, the issuance of the 5 rupee coin has also helped increase the beggars? incomes. Positioning themselves at traffic signals and approaching stationary vehicles as soon as the light turns red, they are able to procure huge returns as their targets attempt to avoid any nuisance by forking over a 5 rupee coin. Others, more superstitious in nature, can, at times, also oblige beggars with a 50 rupee bill when they pray for their wishes to be granted by the Almighty.

Shopkeepers also keep coins which they give away to earn blessings for their businesses, hence, scores of beggars with physical disabilities and deformities are also seen in the markets during the month of Ramazan preying on the fact that Muslims are taught to give zakat to destitute and needy people. The method of emotional blackmail is particularly potent in the holy month with everyone becoming more generous, donating to earn blessings from the Almighty.

Young women clad in burqas are also witnessed outside restaurants presenting tales of woe and sorrow, of how they once belonged to a well-to-do family and how they lost their parents in a tragic road accident and were now homeless as landlords had forcefully vacated their house for not paying rent on time or how they need money to pay examination fees failing which they would have to surrender their studies. On listening to these stories, people often donate up to Rs1000 since nobody thinks that a young girl standing outside an eating outlet accompanied by her ?brother? pleading for help could actually be a beggar.

The amount of beggars who employ the story of deceased parents to seek money has steadily increased and these types can also be seen standing outside Pakistani restaurants. This correspondent came across one such pair of well-dressed siblings with the sister in Burqa standing quietly by the side of her brother. An onlooker could never even imagine, let alone guess, what was to come. They innocently maintained that they needed money for admission into school and that, unfortunately, both their parents had died leaving only the two of them behind without any other relatives. Saddened and moved by their story, this correspondent also donated money, but was shocked to see them begging on the very next day using the same pitch. They fled on a motor bike when an attempt to approach them was made.

The city district government has reportedly started an anti-beggar movement, supposedly shifting all of them to Edhi home. However, the continued presence of a sizeable number of beggars in the city only proves that so far their campaign to combat this menace has been a total failure.

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