As Pakistan celebrates Eid, not only are the markets alive with activity, but citizens are also facing unique challenges. Thousands of beggars have besieged Karachi, the nation's financial capital. These professional beggars, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, are spotted everywhere - busying marketplaces, main roads, traffic signals, shopping malls, and outside mosques.
During a time when Pakistan faces skyrocketing prices for fuel and essential goods, the presence of these professional beggars has troubled locals who find them across markets, mosques, malls, and roads.
3 to 4 lakh beggars flood into Karachi
According to The News International newspaper, Karachi's Additional Inspector General, Imran Yaqub Minhas, stated nearly 3 to 4 lakh professional beggars have poured into metropolitan areas like Karachi to capitalize on the occasion of Eid during Ramadan. Minhas mentioned that these beggars, along with criminals, view the port city Karachi as a primary market. They travel from parts of Sindh, Balochistan, and other areas of the country to Karachi.
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He mentioned in a statement released on Tuesday that we cannot detect crimes through traditional methods. He urged authorities to install more cameras across the provincial capital to monitor and track criminals.
Pakistani pickpockets caught from a Saudi mosque
Months ago, dozens of alleged Pakistani beggars disguised as pilgrims were removed from flights to Saudi Arabia and arrested for attempting to travel to the Gulf kingdom to beg.
Under the guise of pilgrimage, Pakistani beggars make their way to the Middle East. Migrant Pakistani Secretary Zeeshan Khawar Ghaz said last year that most people travel to Saudi Arabia on Umrah visas and then start begging. The majority of the pickpockets arrested inside the grand mosque of Mecca are Pakistani nationals. In Karachi alone, during Ramadan, at least 19 people have lost their lives in criminal incidents, while over 55 have been killed since January 2024 for resisting robberies.
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Geo News reports that during the month of Ramadan, 6,780 criminal incidents occurred in Karachi, including 20 carjackings and over 130 thefts. According to Pakistan's Human Rights Commission, authorities in Karachi registered thousands of street crimes last year, with more than a hundred fatalities. The commission also revealed that the same pattern continued into the first quarter of the current month.
