LONDON: As police in Pakistan hunt for the father of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in her Surrey home on August 10, chilling details have started to emerge about alleged abuse suffered by the minor in the past.

A former neighbour, Jessica, whose daughter went to the same school as the ill-fated girl, has claimed Sara was seen with “cuts on her face”.

Jessica told BBC News that Sara had been “a happy and confident child” who “always skip­ped to school”. But she said that after news of the girl’s death became public, Jessica’s daughter told her that Sara had clearly visible injuries.

The two girls were at St Mary’s primary school in Byfleet when Jessica’s daug­hter claimed she saw the injuries.

“Just before the Easter holidays she was in school and had cuts and bruises on her face and her neck,” Jessica said. “My daughter had asked what had happened and she said she’d fallen off a bike and then kind of walked away.”

“The next day the teacher announced [Sara] had left school and she was being home-schooled.”

Jessica also said it was close to the time that the Sharif family had moved to Woking, Surrey, and that her daughter never saw the girl again.

Earlier, police reported that the post-mortem was inconclusive in identifying a cause of death, but that the girl suffered multiple injuries over a period of time.

Reports also said child services were aware of Sara before she was found dead, but it is not known why they knew of her as a review is being conducted.

Jhelum police told Sky News on Wednesday that Imran Sharif, an uncle of Sara, was in custody.

Imran claimed that Sara “fell down the stairs and broke her neck”, according to police in Jhelum. He also said he is not aware of his brother’s whereabouts.

He told police: “I found out what happened to Sara through the international media. My parents told me Irfan briefly came home very upset. He kept saying ‘they’ [British authorities] are going to take his children away from him.”

He is alleged to have told officers: “Beenish was home with the children. Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Beenish panicked and phoned Irfan.”

The family of Beenish reportedly lives in Mirpur, whereas Irfan’s family lives in Jhelum. Both family homes have been raided by police to find the couple and their five children, but with no success.

LHC disposes of plea

Meanwhile, the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench on Thursday disposed of a petition filed by Sharif Malik, the father of Irfan, after he requested the court he wanted to withdraw the plea.

Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan had summoned the district police officer and others as Mr Sharif had expressed apprehensions that the police might detain his sons.

The police informed the LHC that the Interpol has requested their help to probe the suspects and assured the court that the suspects will be dealt with in accordance with law.

Malik Asad in Islamabad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2023