Social Problems | Afghanistan Social Problems

Social Problems | Afghanistan Social Problems

The Living Legend

Ahmad Javed Kamran Amiri

Dated: Monday 11^th November 2019

Social problems are not just a challenging issue in Afghanistan but all over the world especially in third world countries (undeveloped and developing countries).

Social problems have always been present in almost all societies of the world. Even the people of the advanced and developed countries not free from social problems.

The people of Afghanistan, which is a developing country, have their own social problems. People all over the world are trying to solve their social problems through education, cooperation, legal action and welfare organizations.

Afghanistan is not a rich country even though it has a lot of mines and minerals. The majority of people are poor and living in the poverty line and even under the poverty line. Most of the children are brought up without education and without social and moral guidance. Hence, they do not become responsible citizens. I have to say that unfortunately, some of them became beggars, thieves and even murderess.

This can be prevented if parents and teachers realize their duties in the upbringing of children. They should be aware of the company that their children keep. And in schools the teachers are responsible not only for their education but also for their physical and moral growth. If both parents and teachers do their duty in a way that they have to do such, most of the social evils will decrease, if not disappear completely…

Some of these children will become professional beggars, professional thieves and unfortunately professional murderess. They think it is an easy way to make a living. The streets of our cities are swarming with these beggars. Through our religion forbids beggars, most of us think it our religious duty to give alms to beggars. We should give alms to only those people whom we know to be really deserving. Professional beggars should be discouraged.

Happy social life depends on give and take. This applies to all our dealings with each another. For example: people will buy what they need from the market shops and shopkeepers in exchange for their money. Sometimes the sellers use many different devices to make unreasonable profits which is not reasonable. They may hoard their goods and thus cause an artificial shortage of the goods. Now, people must have the necessities of life. The patient must have his/her medicine; the baby must have milk. Flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil and fuel, etc are everybody’s need, if these things and goods are sold in the black market, the sellers of these goods can make the buyers’ life very difficult which will be very harmful to the buyer’s especially to the poor people. We can check black marketing if we buy only what is necessary. What we must buy, should be bought in a reasonable quantity. When there is no sale in the black market, goods will come back into the shops and prices will come down.

Bribery is another social evil which causes more damage to the country than is usually realized. Bribery is used to get more favor which cannot honestly be granted. If bribery becomes wide-spread in a country, which already spread in Afghanistan, the affairs of the country go into the hands of corrupt and undesirable persons. Naturally the pace of development is checked and national money goes waste. Not laws but only a sense of moral and national responsibility can free a society of this evil.

Smuggling also destroys the economy of a country. Smugglers make money at the cost of the state. They smuggle out in what is harmful to the industry of the country. Likewise when people do not pay income-tax to the government, the whole country suffers for it. No government can run without money. All projects for the development of the country remain incomplete for lack of funds.

Some social customs like giving costly dowry have become so important that people follow them blindly. Many girls and boys cannot get married because their parents can’t give a larger dowry. Now the government has to fix a maximum limit for dowry, if the government do such, it is hoped that this social evil will die out. It is up to the people to respect and obey the law.

Everyday newspapers, TV channels, Radio channels carry stories of fraud, theft, child lifting, abduction, rape and murder. Child lifters forget the pain they cause to the parents. The abduction children are either sold as slaves or turned into beggars.

These social evil indicate a diseased society. They show that people do not have any respect for the lives and properties of other members of the society. In order to rid the society of these evils we must observe social, moral and religious values which teach us to respect other people’s lives and properties. Punishment alone cannot stop crimes. We must all develop an awareness of what is right and what is wrong. The development of this awareness should be the aim of our education and behavior.

We can banish all social evils if we sincerely follow the teaching of Islam. It is a practical religion. It has given us a simple and workable code of behavior. If we follow this code, society will reform itself.