Sara Sharif was found dead at her home in Woking last month
By Caroline Davies, Pakistan correspondent
in Jhelum
A judge in Pakistan has ruled Sara Sharif’s siblings, who travelled from the UK with her father, should be sent to a government childcare facility.
The five children were found at the home of their grandfather who was wanting to continue to keep them.
Sara, 10, was found dead at her family home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August – a day after her father, uncle and step-mother partner left the UK.
Post-mortem tests found Sara sustained “multiple and extensive injuries”.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, stepmother Beinash Batool and his brother Faisal Malik left the UK with five children aged between one and 13.
Surrey Police have said they would like to speak to the three adults as part of a murder investigation into Sara’s death.
Pakistan police have so far been unable to locate them.
On Tuesday, a court ruled Sara’s five siblings should be sent to a Pakistan government childcare facility temporarily.
The ruling did not state how long the children may be kept in the government facility for. It also does not determine where the children will ultimately be sent.
Earlier, the children were carried by family members, surrounded by armed police and local media, into court for around 40 minutes. It concluded it did not have jurisdiction to make the decision.
The siblings were then moved to another court. Eventually a judge called the children in. Some were carried by their aunts or female police officers.
While the judge asked questions of their grandfather and his lawyer, they sat on chairs at the side, legs dangling. The eldest child comforted the youngest, pacing the court while bouncing them.
At one point the children’s family brought in refreshments – cartons of juice and packets of biscuits.
All five were sent to a waiting police car before the verdict was announced.
Sara’s grandfather Muhammad Sharif, who is Urfan Sharif’s father, made no comment as he left court.
Police took the children from Mr Sharif’s house, in Jhelum, on Monday, before returning them, on the condition he would bring them to court the next day.
Speaking earlier, he told BBC News the children had been staying at his home since their arrival on 10 August.
“Since they came from the UK, I didn’t let them go,” Mr Sharif said.
“I told Urfan and Beinash that they can go wherever they want to, but I will not let the children go with you. Until today, no one had asked me about the children.
“They kept asking me about Urfan, Faisal and Beinash, no one asked me about the children.”
He later said: “If someone had asked about children I would have said they were safe with me. It is my right, no one could care about them more than me.”
His son and his partner had not phoned him, he said, adding that maybe it was because “if the police found out they would have been hard on me”.
Mr Sharif had previously repeatedly denied being in touch with his son or knowing where the family was.
BBC News also spoke to sisters of Urfan Sharif, who said the children were very upset when they were taken from their grandfather’s home.
“The children were crying, the police were dragging them away,” Farzana Malik said.
“They were crying a lot and saying, ‘we don’t want to go, we don’t want to go.'”
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that police officers raided the property just before 16:30 local time (12:30 BST) on Monday. Officers stopped traffic and prevented anyone from filming on their phones, neighbours said.
Mr Sharif accused the police of breaking CCTV cameras and the gates of his home.
Police confirmed they had taken the children, but Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, stepmother, Beinash Batool, and uncle, Faisal Malik, were not with them. The police said the children did not resist leaving.
Surrey Police said in a statement: “Clearly this is significant, and we have been liaising with Surrey County Council and our international partners, including Interpol, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the National Crime Agency, to determine the next steps.”
The force added that “the welfare of these five children continues to be a priority for us”.
Image source, Handout
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, his partner Beinash Batool and his brother Faisal Malik are wanted by police
Tim Oliver, leader of Surrey County Council, said: “We are monitoring developments closely and will be working with our partners to establish next steps. We will not be commenting further at this time.”
On Friday, Muhammad Sharif told the BBC that he had sent a message to his son, telling him to surrender to police.
Muhammad Sharif and his family have accused the police of harassing them, illegally detaining some family members and raiding their homes. He has also accused the police of creating fake cases against them to add further pressure.
The police have denied this.
In video footage last week, Sara’s stepmother spoke publicly for the first time since the 10-year-old was found dead. Sara’s father was also in the video but did not speak, while Ms Batool read from a notebook.
Ms Batool described Sara’s death as “an incident” and said she and Urfan Sharif were willing to co-operate with UK authorities.
She said that the reason the family were in hiding was because they fear that the Pakistani police will torture and kill them. The Jhelum police chief told the BBC the allegations of harassment and torture of family members are false.
Sara’s body was found after her father made an emergency call from Pakistan, shortly after landing in Islamabad.
