Beggars turn scapegoats for new Punjab govt

For a country where every silk-stocking office holder embarks on a quick trip abroad for apologetically seeking financial assistance on the grounds of correcting the fiscal mess created by the preceding rulers, the government’s decision to crackdown against ragged beggars on the footpath is nothing but a move of expediency, aimed at diverting attention from the real problem, the corrupt practices that have led to the current economic recession, which has turned even the most dignified citizens into nagging beggars.

Recently, the Punjab government announced its decision to intensify legal action against people living below the poverty line in the provincial capital, who were cushioning their household expenditures by begging on the roads. Following the amendment made to the Islamabad Prevention of Beggary Act 2019, all beggars and their ringleaders will be put in jail for three months alongside being penalized with heavy fines.

While this initiative might be commended by citizens pestered by insistent beggars at traffic intersections, it has come as a bolt out of the blue for those destitute households, whose very survival was contingent upon the generous impulses of passers-by. For instance, Sakina Bibi, a domestic worker from Okara, compensates for her low paying job by begging at the Lahore Canal.

“Begging allows me to feed my children one meal a day. When room rents, electricity bills and other expenses expand my income, how else will I keep my children alive. If the government wants to put us in jail, let them do it. But then they should also arrest my children. This way they may at least get two meals a day in the barracks,” sorrowfully argued Sakina.

Similarly, Sabir Ali, a differently-abled beggar from Jallo Mor, supports his family of ten by begging on the roads.” If the government arrests us for begging, then how will our families survive. Our rulers also go to foreign countries and ask for money, but the poor man cannot ask God's servants for two servings of bread a day,” lamented Ali.

According to Salman Abid, a public policy advisor and Professor at the University of Punjab, peaking inflation, unemployment and an unfair distribution of resources in the society has caused the number of beggars to increase in the city.

“The incompetence of our rulers has turned people into beggars. When a person has no job, no house, no bread, then they turn to begging since our government does not give any food stipends. Instead of arresting beggars and putting them behind bars, the government should teach them skills which can help them earn a living and feed their families,” opined Abid.

According to sources of The Express Tribune obtained by the Department of Social Welfare, the number of beggars in Punjab is increasing day by day, with the majority concentrated in Lahore, which attracts at least 300 to 500 beggars from other cities in South Punjab on a daily basis, who occupy posh areas and main highways of the city. This number exceeds 1000 in the week before the two Eid’s.

“If a ruler brings money by begging from countries abroad, then it is right but if a poor person seeks help out of necessity, then how is that wrong. Action should be taken against professional beggars or those who forcibly make others beg, but helpless beggars should not be harassed under this guise. If the government arrests beggars and keeps them in jail, they will become criminals,” said Abdullah Malik, a law expert and civil society leader.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on the matter, Nurul Amin Mengal, Interior Secretary Punjab said, “Under the new law, forced begging has been declared a non-bailable offence. The gang leader of the beggar mafia will be sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of RsS2 million will also be imposed. In case of non-payment of the fine, the convict will have to undergo three more years of imprisonment.”