Islamabad, Pakistan – Web Desk: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has shared an emotional account of her time behind bars, revealing that she was kept in solitary confinement for 24-hour stretches at Adiala Jail. “Only the one who goes through it truly knows what it feels like. No one heard my screams in jail,” she said, adding that her time in prison made her realise what a helpless inmate truly feels.
She made these remarks while addressing a Jail Reforms Conference in Islamabad, attended by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, along with the chief ministers of all four provinces — Maryam Nawaz, Sohail Afridi, Murad Ali Shah, and Sarfraz Bugti — among other officials. The Chief Justice, accompanied by the four chief ministers, also visited a facilitation centre during the event.
Before her address, a documentary highlighting prison reforms introduced in Punjab was screened at the conference. Maryam Nawaz said the reforms she introduced were based on what she personally experienced while incarcerated. “I don’t want to make any political statement on this forum, but I was kept in solitary confinement for 24 hours at a stretch in Adiala Jail,” she said.
She spoke about the psychological toll of solitary confinement, saying she now understands its impact on mental health firsthand. She noted that video link facilities have since been made available to all inmates in Punjab’s jails, recalling that during her own time in custody, her only companions were books and a prayer mat. Drawing on her personal experience, she said the province’s jails were modernised and new reforms were introduced as a direct result of what she witnessed inside.
Maryam Nawaz revealed that she and her father, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, were imprisoned at the same time. She recalled that her mother was seriously ill during that period, yet they were not allowed to visit her. “Every prisoner has their own story, and I have mine too,” she said. She recounted an incident where her blood sugar level dropped and no one came to help her. “My hands were trembling, and the jaggery-water bottle fell from my hand and broke. I picked up the jaggery from the floor and ate it — only to find it had glass shards in it. No one heard my screams in jail,” she said.
The Chief Minister further revealed that there was no privacy in her jail cell, with only a partition-free space separating the washroom from the sleeping area. “I didn’t even know where to lay my prayer mat,” she said, explaining that this experience led her to introduce reforms for prisoners, including the installation of emergency buttons. She added that the cell next to hers held young children, and she could hear their cries every day.
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, also addressing the conference, said that thousands of ordinary prisoners were incarcerated alongside Nawaz Sharif during his imprisonment, just as thousands remain behind bars today alongside PTI founder Imran Khan. He stressed that the reforms were not meant for any particular political figure but for the welfare of ordinary citizens, adding that the goal was to dismantle the colonial-era prison system “so that no Maryam Nawaz has to break a glass bottle again.”
