Notorious export

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Beggars are fast becoming our most notorious export, going abroad to ask for alms while bringing disrepute to the country and indirectly creating hurdles for hard-working youngsters who want to move abroad.

Despite the government's promises and assurances that it is addressing the beggary export business, the UAE recently announced the arrest of another 10 beggars, leaving Pakistani authorities to again proclaim that they will face legal action upon deportation back here, without addressing either how they got to the UAE in the first place.

Even though several Middle Eastern governments are making it harder for Pakistanis to go to their countries, it appears the fraudsters are still making it through, while upstanding citizens are being deprived of the opportunity to visit as legitimate tourists, students or job applicants.

Meanwhile, successive governments have been unwilling to acknowledge why people would go to such lengths just to beg for money — for many people, being a beggar on the street in a wealthy country is better than working in Pakistan. While the initial excuse used to be that such migrants do not realise how tough life on the street abroad can be, several documented cases of deportees going abroad again suggest that at least some migrant beggars genuinely prefer the bottom rung abroad to working a 'real' job here.

Studies have shown that begging has a direct inverse relationship with unemployment and average wages. If the government -— or any government — had made the country attractive for talented people, rather than a place they are forced to be, those talented people would have helped grow the economy and create good jobs for working-class people, giving everyone a good reason to stay.

Instead, about 13 years after then-prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani seemingly encouraged desperate people who wanted to leave Pakistan to leave, rather than admit state failure in their desire, we are at a point where governance failures are forcing people to stay.