The number of beggars in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi is increasing every day as they are seen in swarms at public places like the traffic signals on busy roads. A majority of them claims to be from the militancy-hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA as they seek alms to support their families. But the authorities concerned are not doing enough to provide these displaced and downtrodden with any financial assistance and they have been forced to beg.
Most of these beggars are women and children who would tell any passer-by about their ordeals and the events that compelled to beg. These bagging women say their males are either jobless because of law and order situation in their hometown in restive regions or have been killed in suicide bombings, leaving them with no other option but to seek alms. The beggar children also have a similar story to tell about the miseries brought to them by militancy and terrorism. A beggar woman, hailing from Swat, told this scribe that her husband had been killed in a blast and ever since she was begging to feed her little children.
She said she was also suffering from diabetes and demanded the government’s support so that she could lead an “honourable” life. She said the government did support her family in the beginning but nothing was being given to them presently, hence she was forced to begging.Another woman, begging by a traffic signal on a main thoroughfare, said her husband was a drug addict and she had no other means to earn a livelihood. She said she would never beg if the government had provided her some employment or assistance.
A Rawalpindi resident, Sultan Zeb, was of the view that if government wanted to curb the menace of begging, it should provide those people with some alternatives including employment and even training for those who did not have any skills.
