The ‘cave people’ of Rawalpindi

Many have now moved out, but some families remain

RAWALPINDI: With a bustling population of 207 million, Pakistan is woefully short of essential facilities for these people.  One of the biggest issues is lack of affordable housing for all, even though many have raised the slogan of providing a roof to country’s swathes of homeless.

While this is true for much of Pakistan, there are some in Rawalpindi who have taken up residence in some caves in Dhoke Hassu, near the banks of Nullah Leh. These caves dug into the sandstone hills, are quite old and have seen at least one generation spending its life there.  Over time, the walls of the caves and the structure of the hill have become weak.

While most of the cave dwellers have moved out, with thick padlocks keeping the doors to these caves shut, around 10 families still live in these caves today.

Apart from hosting residences, the hill has a more morbid side to it with a graveyard located in its upper sector.

Tahir, of the cave dwellers who originally hails from Abbottabad, said that he came to the caves along with his family when he was just two-years-old. Since then, he said, he had spent 23 years of his life in these caves.

Describing life in the caves, he said that it provides them with cheap residence since many of them are not well-to-do, working on daily-wages at the Sabzi Mandi in nearby Islamabad or worse, undertakers at the graveyard in the hill.

Waji, a youngster who lives in the caves, said that life was quite peaceful in their subterranean residence. The only exception was the rainy season when they spend sleepless nights worrying if the hill torrents would cause land sliding which would leave them trapped inside.

Until a few years ago, Tahir said, a lot of people lived in these caves. But now, many have managed to build proper brick-and-mortar houses in the adjoining area. However, there were still seven underprivileged families who were still living here.

With the caves located near the Pakistan Railways Carriage Factory, Tahir conceded that the land belonged to the Railways and that they have been served several eviction notices, but they remain put for lack of any alternatives.

With the area falling within NA-62 Rawalpindi-VI, the constituency of incumbent Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Tahir complained that before the July 2018, elections, the enigmatic leader of the Awami Muslim League (AML) had promised that if elected, he would shift the cave-dwellers to proper houses.

But over six months on from the elections, Tahir said that residents of these caves were still waiting on Ahmed to come good on his promise. “Laws are only for the poor,” complained Tahir, adding, ‘The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had promised to give houses to the homeless, but the promise was never fulfilled.”

Waji said that his mother had approached a number of officials for the provision of proper houses for them but none of her requests has been fulfilled thus far.

“Only false promises were made and nobody later returned to us,” he said, adding that he was so disappointed that he now believes he will spend his entire life in these caves.

Ahmed, when asked about the cave-dwellers, explained that the government was facing a number of complications in the housing sector to come good on their promise to provide houses to the homeless.

However, the federal minister said that they were working hard to overcome the issues under the supervision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He added that houses will soon be provided to those who had spent their entire lives in difficulties.

“The government has established shelter homes on an emergency basis for the homeless and we wish that the cave-dwellers also shift there so that they can be looked after better,” Ahmed said, pointing to the centres set up near Fawara Chowk in Rawalpindi and in Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2019.