Residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad expressed concerns over the increasing number of professional beggars on traffic signals, mosques, marketplaces and chowks of the twin cities. They said the concerned authorities were not paying any heed to control the plague of beggary.
The residents of the twin cities said that some beggars permanently sat in front of big shopping plazas, hotels and bakeries, while some of them beg for money and used items from houses by ringing door bells. They said beggars can also be seen in every market and bazaar and in front of every mosque and at every traffic signal of the twin cities, including Peshawar Chowk, Jinnah Super Market, Karachi Company, Super Market, F-10 Markaz, Commercial Market, Raja Bazaar, Saddar, and Zero Point.
The residents said most of the beggars were children under the age of 15 who had no other option than to beg for the rest of their lives.
Talking to INP at Peshawar Morr, Fahad Touheed, a shopkeeper, said that many children were dropped in the market in the morning for begging and were picked at late night. The beggars, including Afghan girls, surrounded every visitor and asked for Rs 5 to Rs 10, he said.
He added that no authority was showing responsibility and abolishing the beggary even in the federal capital.
Another group of residents in Commercial Market said it was hard to shop in the market or eat in restaurants and stalls as the beggars attacked them asking for money. They said that the beggars tactfully exploited their emotions by telling stories of their miseries but they could not help all the beggars.
They added that it was the responsibility of the concerned authorities to take effective measures against the beggar mafia.
Aashiq Rasul, a stall owner in Raja Bazaar, said that some of the beggars in the bazaar were involved in pick pocketing and theft. He said that beggars went to every vehicle parked on the roads and asked for money. He said some even stole valuables from the parked vehicles. The residents demanded the concerned authorities to take effective steps to control beggary in the twin cities.