Recently, the number of beggars in our town has increased manifold. The moment you come out of your house, they start plaguing you. They pursue you like a shadow. Even hale and hearty people have taken to begging. Small boys and children have caught the infection. Perhaps they are made to beg by their guardians.
The beggars gather at place frequented by the people. The bus stands, markets places, post offices, railway station and mosques are their favourite haunts. It is impossible to move about those places peacefully. If you show generosity, and open your purse, you are surrounded by a host of them.
Some child-lifters, in the guise of beggars, are on the lookout for abducting children. Two or three cases of this kind have occurred recently, and the culprits have been caught red-handed.
The female beggars enter the houses quietly without calling out for alms at the door. If they are not noticed by the inmates, they run away with whatever they can lay their hands on. They act as informers to the burglars who break into houses at night.
One obvious reason for this evil is literacy, poverty and unemployment. Due to the pervasiveness of the social ill, many evil practices have come into existence which are destroying not our social norms but also effecting our law and order situation.
The number of baggers in our country is rising. It is really a curse that even able-bodied citizens resort to begging. A prompt action on the part of the Government is required to check this social evil. Bagging should be banned and there is a desire need for a legislation to end this profession. However, deserving cases should be helped and other should be given profitable employment.
FATIMA QURESHI
Karachi
