Even in this modern age, about 100 people live in caves right in the heart of the garrison city. While going to Islamabad from Dhoke Ratta via the Boring Road towards I.J. Principal Road, one can see graveyards and farms over a raised ground near a nullah. Beneath the graveyards, some families live in caves. Even in this modern age, these cave-dwellers use lanterns, wood and cow dung to light up their abodes and burn stoves for cooking.

Only one facility of the modern day is available to these cave-dwellers - the right to vote. Their names were included in the voter list in NA-55 from where Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was elected in the 2013 election.

When Dawn visited the area, the cave-dwellers said they used to live in a slum which was demolished by the Pakistan Railways in 2001. They said the katchi abadi had been set up in 1970. After the demolition of their abodes, the displaced people had no other option but to dig the caves to live in.

“We lived in the katchi abadi in Kalayamabad near Dhoke Mangtal for 40 years but were never given the proprietary right despite promises made by MNAs and MPAs in the last three elections,” said Mohammad Arif, one of the residents of the caves.

“We have no resources to construct houses or shift to any residential area because we work as labourers at the Islamabad fruit and vegetable market to meet ends meet,” said Mr Mohammad Zareef, another resident.

Mr Zareef, his wife and four children dug a cave and have been living in it for over 13 years. “My father knew how to dig a cave. Earlier, some Afghan families along I.J. Principal Road near Nurpur railway station dug caves and lived there and we got the idea from them,” he said.

Nawab Ahmed said he has been living in the caves since his birth 20 years ago. “We use cow dung to light our stoves,” he said.

“During rains, we leave the caves and take shelters in the nearby mosque and under the shades of shops to avoid any untoward situation,” he said.

Some women do domestic work in the nearby houses to supplement the income of the male members of their families while children spend the whole day playing in the railway ground. There is no concept of education among these people.

In reply to a question, Mr Arif said he never sent his children to go to school. “What will we get from education? After getting certificates, our children will have to work as labourers so it is better to teach them how to do manual work,” he explained.

Former MNA of the PML-N Malik Shakil Awan told Dawn that there were five katchi abadis declared by Punjab government and these caves did not come in the category of the slums.

“The railway land was occupied by the slum dwellers. In the past, mostly people dug up caves to live in the area due to shortage of accommodation. In Potohari, these caves are called ‘Bhuray’,” he said. He expressed ignorance about the inclusion of the cave dwellers in the voter list.

However, former district nazim and PTI Punjab vice-president Raja Tariq Mehboob Kiani said it was the duty of the government to provide shelter to all homeless people.

“The PML-N government has double standards as on the one hand it constructed flats and houses under the Ashiana Housing Scheme for those who could afford and on the other it failed to provide shelter to the deserving people.”

He said the railway land should be vacated from encroachers, adding it was also the duty of the government to provide shelter to those who could not afford it.

The local bureaucracy also misguided the Punjab government saying that there was no katchi abadi in the garrison city. Before the 2013 election, the city district government conducted a survey and reported that there were four katchi abadis in the city - two in Rawal Town and two in Potohar Town. But the residents of three of the katchi abadis were given property rights in 2007 during the tenure of the then Punjab government led by Pervaiz Elahi.

When contacted, Divisional Superintendent of Pakistan Railways Munawar Khan said the land where the caves had been established came under the jurisdiction of the Carriage Factory. He said the railways demolished the houses a few years ago after reports about illegal activities in the area. However, he admitted that the settlement was established more than two decades.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2014