KHYBER
Large number of baggers, mostly non-local , have annoyed shopkeepers and customers here in Landi Kotal bazaar.
The local traders and pedestrians said that a bulk of non-locals, frequently women and children, wandered in the streets of the bazaar and sought financial support.
The majority of the baggers were fake and professional ones and so trained to make sentimental cries and heart rendering appeals.
They beg in the name of Allah and religion and utilize various tactics to attract the attention of the customers and to take some money from them.
Muhammad Bilal, a wholesale dealer of beverages, pulses, soap etc said that more than the buyers, the baggers visited their business centers, asked for money; he said and added that the local administration should take strict action against the professional beggars.
He demanded of the authorities that like cites in downtowns, they should curtain beggars in the Landi Kotal bazaar and let them do their business without anxiety.
One of the locals, Iqbal Shinwari, said that these days the numbers of beggars had increased in all parts of the bazaar.
Even they were found in great numbers in main entries of Mosques asking for financial assistance on the pretext of buying medicines or food items, he remarked.
He remarked that they encouraged many others to become beggars because it was an easy way of earning.
President Anjumane Tajeran,Landi Kotal bazaar Haji Jafer said that mostly beggars also do criminal activities as they steal things and cheat in shops and offices. They are found involved in child lifting also.
He added that a written complaint would be filed with the local police station to take action against them.
The government should check this social evil with iron hands and the public should also co-operate with the authorities by discouraging begging to crush this evil practice, he maintained.
When the matter was brought into the notice of Station House Officer (SHO)Landi Kotal police station Akbar Afridi he said that in early hours, he would discuss it with the Assistant Commissioner to formulate a joint strategy to restrain the social disease.
