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Aziz Bugti is serving a 210-year imprisonment and has been sentenced to death four times. He has already spent 18 years in jail. However, this has not deterred him from being a fantastic painter.
Speaking to MM News, Bugti said he could not read, write or paint when he arrived at the Central Jail. However, he took art lessons to educate himself.
He learned painting and became an artist who has also participated in different exhibitions. He also took part in a contest by the State Bank in which over 200 artists from across Pakistan participated.
“I did not know how to read or write. Neither did I know how to paint or what colours are. When I got here, I took interest and worked hard,” he said.
Aziz said they are now preparing for Sindh Cultural Day in which they decorate their sections in jail. Bugti said he is not alone and has a team of other inmates working with him. Aziz said he has built a sculpture of his student, who is also a death-row prisoner.
ASP Central Jail Misbah said many prisoners studying fine arts have learned the craft and are teaching others.
He is the concept of the Sindh Wall was to give inmates an opportunity to showcase the culture of the province by painting ajrak and rilli motifs on the walls.
He said such projects show that prisoners can also work on such arts and crafts. He said the concept of jail was a place where crime increases but it has reformed into a corrections facility.
He said the department has renamed Sindh Prisons and Corrections Facility and now attempts to rehabilitate prisoners. This includes providing fine arts, bead-making, English classes and even anger management. He said this helps to rehabilitate prisoners and make them productive members of society.
Prisoner Aziz Bugti serves as a reminder to hate crime but love life. It shows that prisoners are not violent criminals but members of the society.
