Hordes of beggars descend on markets

Alms seekers turn city’s busiest locations into begging dens

ISLAMABAD:

With the arrival of the holy month of Ramazan, a large number of professional beggars and alms seekers have appeared in the busiest commercial centres and bazaars of private housing societies in the federal capital, causing an undue nuisance for the residents.

As being witnessed, an unusual number of beggars including women, children, labourers and eunuchs of all ages have completely taken over the pedestrian paths and roads in housing societies like PWD, Police Foundation, CBR and Pakistan Town, hampering and disturbing the usual flow of traffic and business activities.

Thanks to the lukewarm response of the relevant authorities, the residents said, these alms seekers and labourers have turned these areas into begging dens.

In every nook and cranny of the main commercial centres of PWD and Police Foundation, you have to face different begging figures of all shades with stretched hands and weeping grimaces, Anwar Sheikh, a cloth merchant said.

“This is unprecedented as we have been living in the area for the last fifteen years but had never witnessed such unpleasant sights as hordes of beggars swarm every part. You can’t go with peace of mind to purchase Iftari or Sehri items from different eateries located in PWD and Police Foundation,” Zarminay Gul Pasha, an apparent jittery woman at a famous bakery opined.

“It is now difficult to discern between a professional and deserving alms seeker,” she added hastily.

Muhammad Farooq, a photojournalist working with a foreign news wire and resident of Media Town, shared that besides, these professional beggars, a considerable number of labourers who could not find work, resort to begging, turning the main entrance and intersections of roads in these societies into their ideal dens and constantly perturbing the residents.

The main U-turn near the National Bank and Tandoori restaurant in Police Foundation had turned into a no-go area for the residents and visitors due to the presence of a huge number of beggars and labourers, he added.

Muhammad Akbar, another resident of CBR Town, said that a shanty settlement has propped up in the society in which a large number of families, particularly from southern Punjab, had been accommodated on a rental basis by some individuals on their private land.

“Children and females regularly beg while the males sit near roundabouts and U-turns on the main roads to fetch meals and foods from the alms distributors,” he added.

Other residents complained that authorities have been turning a blind eye to such an unchecked and illegal settlement which could give rise to different crimes imperilling the lives of the residents.

The residents have demanded of the authorities concerned immediately launch a continuous and relentless drive in different sectors of Islamabad to rid the areas of beggary.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2023.