beggars on the streets

The streets are filled with beggars of all conceivable hues and dispositions. Women carrying infants in their arms, children pleading for a coin, the handicapped transported in push carts, a husband and wife seemingly ill with arms around each other’s shoulders and, of course, the stout and healthy who bang on your car window with an attitude more in the way of demanding back a loan than asking for charity. The competition is so fierce that it is making beggars try out more and more innovative styles of begging.

Have you seen the couple who give the impression that the woman is sick and the man barely able to support her as she lifts one foot after another apparently in great distress? The road chosen for this act is usually a long and straight one such as Maulvi Tamizuddin or Sunset Boulevard. The idea is that it should not be too busy so that the motorist can stop and offer to transport the sick woman to the nearest hospital. This is when this street drama begins in earnest. The man supporting the woman tells the motorists that they are actually on their way to a railway station but have lost their ticket money, so maybe he or she can give them some. The demand is usually of a thousand rupees or more. Many motorists just drive away sensing the fraud but then some oblige with a smaller amount.

A woman at an intersection in Saddar has come up with a very innovative style of showing her pangs of hunger. As soon as the cars stop at the red light she starts screaming and takes her hand towards her mouth again and again. Her histrionics are catching on as many beggars are adopting this style.

It is the children that get the most sympathy, and are thus used unashamedly by many beggars. The children accompanying them are not necessarily their own. In a recent report in the Press it was disclosed that a child can be rented for Rs150. The same report carried the interview of a woman who begs near the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi and to supplement her income rents out her two sons to other beggars.

In Punjab, the most sought after children in this trade are the so called rats of the shrine of Hazrat Dolay Shah. According to Sahil –– an organisation fighting against child exploitation in Pakistan –– a child from this shrine who has a reduced head and no intelligence fetches a price anywhere from Rs40,000 to Rs80,000, because a lot of people in the province believe it is bad luck to refuse alms to these children.

Beggary in general thrives on sentiments, religion and shock. It is said that in certain areas there are make-up experts who daily touch up the beggars before sending them out in the streets to evoke maximum sympathy. More disturbing is the news that children are intentionally maimed and burnt by acid or cigarette stubs to move the hearts of the almsgivers.

The thing that concerns many people is the growing aggressiveness of these beggars, especially the eunuchs who have recently taken to the streets in large numbers and don’t take no for an answer. Behind all these beggars are organised mafias and the complicity of the police.

It is the responsibility of various NGOs working in these areas and the concerned government departments to take measures and to stop the exploitation of children. People at large should discourage this profession by refusing to give alms to beggars, giving it instead to people who deserve it, so that their money is not eventually spent to bolster street crimes and drug addiction.