ISLAMABAD: When 19-year-old Mubeen Khan finishes his shift as a daily-wage laborer in Pakistan’s capital, his workday does not end at home but outdoors, where he searches for a place to sleep for the night.
One evening this week, Khan spread his thin bedding on a roadside green belt near Islamabad’s Peshawar Mor, a major transport junction and bus terminal in the capital’s G-9 sector. Despite a biting winter chill that has settled over the city, he has been sleeping in the open for months.
Khan spends his days working and returns at night to nearby state-run shelters, but by the time he arrives, they are already full.
“When I come back, there isn’t any space,” he told Arab News after laying his bedding along the roadside.
“This Panagah fills up with beds by the time,” he said, pointing toward the nearby shelter. “I sleep here. It’s intensely cold, making it hard to survive, but still, we manage.”
