Jawzjan beggars seek support to stop begging

SHIBERGHAN (Pajhwok): Officials in northern Jawzjan province have identified and registered tens of beggars in the province as some rounded-up beggars pledged to stop this practice if assisted.

Mawlavi Saifullah Motasem, head of the Information and Cultural Affairs Department and member of a Commission tasked to round up beggars, said due to financial problems some people during the past and current government had started begging.

He said: “We are trying to find work opportunities for these people so that unemployment could be reduced.”

He said so far 82 beggars, including women, had been identified and gone through a biometric process monthly get salaries and the process is underway.

He said individuals involved in begging on the roads would be identified and their applications would be referred to the relevant authorities.

Some beggars said they were begging due to poverty and to earn livelihood for the children.

Shafiqa, not a real name, 38, who begged from dawn to dusk in Shiberghan City, told Pajhwok Afghan News: “I have eight orphans and have to beg otherwise they will not have food on the table.”

He husband was killed during the past wars and currently, she lived with her children said: “Begging is not our profession, if my martyred husband’s pension is provided I will not beg.”

Masouda, another begging woman, said her husband is paralyzed and she has to beg for her family members’ survival.

She had gone through biometric by the Commission and hoped for assistance after which she would be able to stop begging.

“If I get the cash assistance which is promised then I will never beg.”

Shazia, is another young girl who is begging alongside her two brothers, she also awaited cash assistance from the government.

“If I get cash assistance, I will never beg because it a shameful act and we are doing it because we are compelled to do.”

According to the government Commission, registered beggars would get continued cash assistance from the government, in addition, children beggars are referred to the Work and Social Affairs Ministry’s learning and training centres.