POVERTY and overpopulation lead to several other problems in developing countries. One such issue is begging, which has taken the shape of a full-fledged mafia in our country.

The beggar mafia is spread to all major cities like Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. These criminals kidnap the needy and poor people from underdeveloped areas and force them to beg by threatening them with dire consequences. The mafias use children of young ages, adults or old people for illegal activities. They brainwash them, torture them in case of resistance, disable them physically or make them drug addicts so they may beg on the streets without any complaints. Thus, the beggars we see on the streets are basically employees who work for one mafia or the other.

Once at a petrol pump, a young child came to me selling toys. As I am a grownup who is well past the age of playing with toys, I turned him down. Watching this, a man who appeared to be in the mid-50s, called the child, and gave him a physical and verbal thrashing, reminded him of the ‘rule’ to present the toys ‘only’ to people with children in the car. I was shocked to see this. It was clear that the man was a part of some mafia and was probably training the poor child.

This is the sad reality of our society. How can we help those in need without filling the coffers of the mafia? There is no way, it seems.

Minahil Noor
Lahore

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2022