Recently there have been cases of people getting mugged on signals and that also by men dressed up as street beggars. This menace of beggary has taken new forms and shapes and now is an even bigger threat for the people of Karachi. A friend of mine recently narrated his story where he stopped at a busy signal of Saddar and was approached by a shabbily dressed up beggar in his 20s. He rolled down his car window to hand over some cash but out came a handgun from the beggar’s pouch and my friend ended up losing his wallet, cellphone and a laptop.
The beggar disappeared in the crowd leaving my friend totally shocked and traumatized. Similar case was reported by a friend’s mother who was going with her driver to a shopping mall on main tariq road. As the car stopped on a traffic light, a beggar knocked at her window and the next thing she knew was the beggar armed with a handgun mugged her and got off with a couple of gold bangles, earrings her purse.
Beggary in Karachi has always been organized by strong mafias and funded by public. The more we fuel it, the more they add up in numbers. Initially it was limited to asking for money on traffic signals and outside shopping centres but now they have ventured into street crimes, kidnappings and even spying for assassins. Traffic intersections are the most convenient spot from where a potential victim could be spotted and assassinated later on and according to recent intelligence reports, criminals are using the garb of beggars to carry out surveillance of targets, reporting their movements and hence assisting target killers in achieving their targets.
Following are the evils associated with beggary:
- It is a moral and social evil.
- Paying to beggars is like fueling the mafia who get encouraged by the actions of the general public and kidnap young boys and girls from kutchiabaadis and villages to expand their beggary network. So if we are giving alms to beggars, we are encouraging child kidnapping and exploitations
- Any act of supporting beggary indirectly strengthens cases of child abuse, mugging and kidnappings.
- Beggars spoil the city landscape.
- You and your families are unsafe in the presence of such unwanted elements on traffic signals and market places.
How can beggary be eliminated:
- By refraining from paying these beggars we can discourage mafias from continuing with their business.
- Public awareness through electronic and print media.
- Realizing the fact that paying alms to street beggars is not khairat (charity), it is a crime.
- Instead of funding beggary mafias, its better to fund charity organizations or people in your immediate family.
- Police is hands in glove with the big wigs of such mafias so no action could be expected from them. However the general public can contribute towards eliminating this menace by not paying to beggars on the streets and bringing this business down.
- Religious scholars and muftis should come out with statements against beggary and encourage their followers to contribute to charity based schools and organizations like edhi, alamgir, silanietc
