Police in Pakistan have raided at least 20 homes nationwide as they search for Sara Sharif’s family, Sky News understands.
According to Sky’s Inzamam Rashid, the raids were concentrated in Jhelum and Mirpur – and are ongoing.
The 10-year-old’s father Urfan Sharif and her stepmother Beinash Batool are believed to have travelled to the country – the day before her body was found at her home in Woking last month.
Police want to question both Mr Sharif and his partner, along with brother Faisal Shahzad Malik, who are believed to have fled with five children on 10 August.
On Wednesday, Ms Batool broke her silence in video shared with Sky News – and said the family was willing to cooperate with British authorities and “fight our case in court”.
In a video shared with Sky News, Mr Sharif and Ms Batool are sitting side-by-side as she reads a prepared statement from a notebook.
She denies media reports that Mr Sharif’s brother Imran said Sara fell down the stairs and claims the family has “gone into hiding”.
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‘I would like to talk about Sara’
‘Haunted’ by sight of Sara’s body
Sara’s mother, Olga Sharif who separated from Mr Sharif in 2015, said she was “haunted” by the sight of her daughter’s body in a mortuary.
Speaking to the Polish television programme Uwaga! on Wednesday, Ms Sharif said: “One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised. Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like.
“They dressed her in Mickey Mouse pyjamas and she had a quilt over her. No mother should have to see something like that.”
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‘Sara’s cheeks were swollen and bruised’
Sara and her older brother had been living with their mother from 2015 until 2019, when the family court ruled they should live with their father.
Ms Sharif still had equal rights to see the children and said while that was easy to maintain initially, it became increasingly harder over time.
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