Safdar Sarki

Who is Safdar Sarki?

Dr. Safdar Sarki, a Pakistani-American physician and American citizen, is a former chair of the World Sindhi Congress and Secretary General of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, an activist in the Sindhi nationalist movement, and a former detainee of the Pakistani government. As one of the many disappeared during the period of Gen. Pervez Musharraf's rule, the campaign to "find" him and get him released included prominent human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, and the Asian Human Rights Commission calling for his release, while the New York Times and other news organizations reported that his health was in jeopardy because the Pakistani government refused to allow him necessary medical attention.

Sarki received his medical degree in Pakistan, but later moved to Texas, where he most recently operated a motel business. While his wife and children remain in Texas, Sarki traveled to Pakistan in early 2006. On February 24, 2006, he was seized and, according to eyewitnesses, beaten severely by members of the Pakistani security forces and held in secret for eighteen months. In October 2007, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, then Chief Justice of the Pakistani Supreme Court, compelled the Pakistani government to acknowledge that it had detained and was continuing to hold Sarki, and order him brought before the courts for further inquiry. Pakistani police then announced that Sarki was being held on charges relating to possession of illegal weapons. In early November 2007, a local judge ordered that Sarki be granted bail and released from custody.