Perverting Ramazan spirit : Beggars flood Pindi’s shopping areas

Residents criticise police for failing to crack down on beggars, implement laws

RAWALPINDI: As people headed to the markets to shop for Eidul Fitr, they were swarmed with a large number of beggars, young and old, including men, women, children. Despite the oft-touted claims of crackdowns by the authorities, beggars have been swarming outside every shopping mall, restaurant, and traffic signal in the garrison city almost with impunity.

“There is no one to curb the menace of beggary. They are afraid of no one,” said Khurram Shahzad who runs an eatery in Saddar Bazaar. “Police do not seem to discourage or arrest the beggars,” he added, noting that beggars are encouraged during Ramazan because those fasting often tend to become generous and soft-hearted. “Beggars are a nuisance and a scar for our society.



Eunuchs, old men, young women, and children alike attack you whenever you come out of a shop or your vehicle in a market. You cannot avoid them as they start following you wherever you go,” complained Riaz Butt while shopping at the Commercial Market. Police officials, despite claims of crackdowns, were often seen just turning the other cheek as beggars hounded shoppers during Ramazan.

A traffic warden, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that they often get orders from the chief traffic officer to crack down against beggars. However, he added that this year no such directions were issued. The warden, who did not wish to be named for fear of reprimand, said that often they would take beggars into custody before handing them over to the relevant police station.

The officials at the station would register criminal cases against them under the Punjab vagrancy laws. But soon, they would see the beggars return to their regular haunts after obtaining bail from the courts. The warden further said that police action alone was not the only solution for beggary and that there was a need to set up proper rehabilitation or psychological treatment programmes to dissuade beggars from asking for alms.

A senior official from the Social Welfare Department said that they did not have any facility in the garrison city where they could lodge the beggars and work on rehabilitating them. He added that his department had often requested the provincial government to establish rehabilitation centres in major cities of the province to treat beggars and make them responsible citizens.



The social welfare official bemoaned that it was unfortunate that most of the beggars were fake and ‘professional’ and not those who actually required assistance from others. He said that the curse cannot be curbed without the strict implementation of the Punjab Vagrancy Ordinance 1958 and a due rehabilitation process to supplement it.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2017.