So now it’s becoming even more common. I have to admit that it takes real guts now to say NO to any beggar. It has been observed lately that the number of beggars on the streets of Karachi has increased manifold and this evil is creating unpleasant circumstances throughout the city. The once called “city of lights” should now be termed as the “city of beggars.”
“Allah k naam per dedey beta! Mere bachhon ne 2 din se roti nai khayi. Mujhe rashan dila dey. Mera pota bemaar hai (carrying a baby in her arms). Allah teri jori salamat rakhey beta!”
Every now and then when we take to the road, either as a pedestrian or in our automobiles, we witness this. So this happened with one of my friends a few days back when she was going to buy some stuff from a superstore. She was sitting next to her brother in her car in the parking lot and a random beggar came and uttered the above mentioned words. “Shit! We are siblings…What the hell is wrong with people these days? Just because I am traveling with a guy who is older than me doesn’t make me his girl friend, fiancé or wife”, she thought…Awkward, right? And thus before the woman could say anything further, my friend took out a Rs. 20 note and handed it over to her.
Ever wondered why these people use such sentences? They have been trained professionally on how to emotionally blackmail us, the people who so easily fall a victim to emotional appeal. Many of us condemn these activities but what do we do? Fall a prey to the evils of the society? Ever imagined where this money that we give to them hoping that it would help them in some way goes? We all must have experienced that kids do not sleep for longer than a couple of hours. Ever thought of why the babies they carry in their arms keep sleeping all the time? Reliable sources reveal that these babies are drugged by the gangs that these people work for to compel people to give away charity to them. Ever wondered why people take to this path to gain some monetary funds to support their families? Think again.
You stop at a traffic signal and a child comes to sell a booklet of Qura’ani Surahs, tissue papers, flowers or toys etc. Have you ever bought anything from these people who despite of all the obstacles are trying to earn a livelihood through fair means? Have you ever appreciated their efforts? The same people when adopt easier and dishonest ways which are either begging or snatching and stealing, we condemn their acts. We ourselves don’t strive to find out the facts buried behinds these huge mounds of lies. And then we accuse either the government or the economic factors like hyper inflation for this enormously spreading disease. Let us pause here for a moment, ponder over the above mentioned facts and then answer this: “Who is responsible?”
They themselves are responsible for it, they chose to beg rather than earn which is embarassing..
ReplyDeleteExcellent post.
ReplyDelete@ Raza Haidery,
ReplyDeleteThe job market as we all know already is not catering to the needs of bachelors, masters and in some cases even doctorates. Unemployment is a major issue in our society. The point is that even when these beggars try to sell things on streets or become hawkers, we turn them down. Then the only way out for them to fulfill their needs is begging.
Thanks Masd! :)
ReplyDeletethe major problem of this nation are not the social and economic issues, but its because we dont love our country dats why. Have we ever thought why inflation, social evils and other sort of problems are dominating the society more and more day by day, its because of us. Whenever we want to enjoy, we prefer foreign goods over locally manufactured, be it from morning tea to evening resturant dine in, from education to vacations etc mostly we prefer foreign goods. So how can we think that poverty and other social evil can decrease in the society
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input Farhan. I agree. And there are times when we need to raise our voice against the evils of society and take charge of things but we don't. We prefer keeping quiet and then these are the results that we reap.
ReplyDeleteYour most welcome Qurantulain. The sadest part, we havent learnt anything from the result instead the intensity of this has increased.
ReplyDeleteMany gangs are active in Pakistan also all over the world. there are different ways to beg. these gags teach them. If u do servery on "how much they earn in a month you will shocked"
ReplyDeleteMost of the people doesn't know that "to whom to give money" Islam teach us about this we have to provide awareness to those people who doesn't know.
Yes Shakir. We do not follow the true Islamic teachings that is why we are lacking behind. We have to act responsible ourselves to create awareness.
ReplyDeleteinfact they are not begging sitting in bullet proof vests, wearing armani suits and rolex watches in hand, having billions of rupees in Swiss bank accounts, you can easily guess whom i am taking about i-e our political leaders which used to beg from America and IMF for loans and funds and made Pakistan a prostitute atleast these beggars are way better as compare to them they are selling themselves but our govt sold us and filled their own pockets
ReplyDeletewell, i would say its embedded in our culture.
ReplyDeleteAnd we are not getting rid of it. India in terms of development is steps ahead than Pakistan and they face the same beggary problem more than faced by us (as India has more states than Pakistan). We as citizens can help them when they are busy embarrassing us, but are their actions helping Pakistan? These people are not to be blamed. what I've heard is that there is a beggary industry operating and is headed by people living within and abroad Pakistan (more exactly living without Pakistan)
One should at the end of the day think about whether is he complying with the principles of life defined in many places in the Holy Quran.