Dr Safdar Sarki – The ‘Disappeared’ have again Disappeared

Posted on the People’s Resistance network

In all the fracas, the ‘disappeared’ have again disappeared. The detained activist (and US citizen) Dr Safdar Sarki, general secretary of Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSQM) was finally granted bail only to have it revoked — on Nov 2, the day before the martial law. Instead of being released on bail, he was taken to farflung Zhob jail in Balochistan from Hub (closer to Karachi), said JQSM activists who had come to the Press Club on Dec 10, Human Rights Day, to agitate for his release. They handed out material about his current ill-health (an Out-Door Patients Ticket) dated Nov 23, 2007, which stated that he has retinal degeneration (they said he is in danger of losing his eyesight). The prison doctors in Zhob have advised that he should be sent for consultation to Agha Khan Medical University Karachi as he is also suffering from arthritis and hernia.

Dr Sarki, former chairman of the World Sindhi Congress (London) was one of the victims of enforced disappearances that the Supreme Court was looking into. He was reportedly beaten and taken away from his relatives flat in Karachi on in March 2006, blindfolded, to an unknown location by security personnel who also confiscated his belongings (including laptop, driving license, US passport, money etc). After months of holding him incommunicado and denying his custody, security agencies finally produced him in court in October, 2007, along with two other missing Sindhi nationalist leaders G M Bhagat and Chaitin Bajer. Police then officially arrested all three. Dr Sarki was charged with possessing explosives.

The judge who finally granted Dr Sarki bail was transferred on Nov 2 and recalled the bail before Dr Sarki could be released although the surety had been duly provided and everything was ready for his release. The JQSM activists feared that for Dr Sarkis life because of being denied proper medical care. He is very weak, his shoulders are dysfunctional, he has almost lost his eyesight, and he cannot even walk. “Please help our brother somehow, pleaded Dr Sarkis younger sister Prof Abida Parveen when contacted on the phone.