PESHAWAR: Militancy and military operations in parts of NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas have not only displaced hundreds of thousands of people but have also forced young females into beggary.
“Military operation and everyday curfew forced us to leave our house in Michni. As there is no elder to feed our family, I beg on city streets for having no alternative arrangement to feed our family,” disclosed 9-year-old Gulnaz. The young girl is usually accompanied by her brother Nasrullah, 7, and sister, Hadia, 4, while seeking alms in Kamboh village near GT Road.
Their father, according to Gulnaz, was killed in clashes after which her mother decided to move out of Michni. “There is no adult male member left in our family,” the girl remarked. Samreen, an 8-year-old girl belonging to Ganj Gate in old city, also claims to be the lone source of income for her five-member family. “I am not allowed to enter the house until I handover Rs300 to my mother. On occasions I have to work till late to get the target because my mother does not compromise,” opined Samreen while on her routine visit to the medicine market in Namakmandi.
Her 4-year-old sister Kashmala has been given the target to collect at least Rs150 per day. “My father is paralyzed while my elder brother is to go through a surgery,” the young girl claimed in a stereotype reply to a question from this correspondent.
Till the time when there were no IDPs in the city, one could see only professional female beggars asking for alms on the city streets, in public transport or while roaming the markets. Many of these children do not demand money directly but insist on selling cheap items like festoons, tissue papers, chewing gums, candies etc.
The number of young female beggars has now increased considerably after thousands of families shifted to the provincial capital from Swat, Bajaur, Mohmand, Shabqadar, Darra Adamkhel and many other parts of the NWFP and Fata due to the law and order situation there.
Female beggars are considered to be more vulnerable to prostitution as they can be trapped easily than other girls. “On occasions, I have observed people in the latest model cars luring a pretty teenage girl who use to beg on the pretext of selling garlands or petty items in Saddar Bazaar. The innocence and fear can be observed easily from her face whenever somebody attempts to get her attention,” a traffic police sergeant, requesting anonymity, told this scribe.
The official disclosed that many other young beggars are facing the same attitude in buses, shops and even houses. “Neither the regular police nor we can take action until these beggars file a proper complaint against an individual if insulted,” he opined.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government in NWFP had established a special home “Darul Kifala” for rehabilitation of female beggars where they had planned to impart them skills to live a respectable life. The single facility, which also lacks even basic facilities, is not enough to rehabilitate hundreds of female beggars, more vulnerable to the flesh business. Non-governmental organizations are also doing nothing in this sector.
Many women trafficking gangs are already active in the city and nearby towns to pick up young girls and sell them at the hand of others in Lahore and parts of Punjab. They have kidnapped many schoolgirls from parts of Nowshera, many of whom are yet to return home. A few have been recovered either from brothels or houses of individuals at the hands of whom they were sold.
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