Pakistan court orders 5 siblings of girl found dead near London put into child protection center

Police officers escort a relative and a child of a couple wanted by British police in connection with last month's death of their 10-year-old daughter on the outskirts of London, to appear them in a court in Jhelum, about 175 kilometres (110 miles) northwest of Lahore in central Pakistan on September 12, 2023. (AP)

• Police are continuing their search for the girl’s father and stepmother in connection with her death
• Urfan Sharif traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, with Batool and Malik on Aug. 9, bringing the five children with them

LAHORE: A Pakistani court on Tuesday ordered the five siblings of a 10-year-old girl who was found dead with extensive injuries near London put into a children’s protection center after they were located by police.
The police are continuing their search for the girl’s father and stepmother in connection with her death.
Sara Sharif was found dead at her home in Woking, on the southern outskirts of London, on Aug. 10. British police identified her father, Urfan Sharif, his wife, Beinash Batool, and Urfan’s brother, Faisal Malik, as people they want to speak to in the investigation.
An autopsy of the girl didn’t establish a cause of death but showed that she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries, which are likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time,” British police said in a statement.
Urfan Sharif traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, with Batool and Malik on Aug. 9, bringing the five children with them. The couple then went into hiding, officials say.
The five children were recovered by police Monday evening from Urfan Sharif’s family home in Jhelum, about 175 kilometers (110 miles) northwest of Lahore in central Pakistan.
The children, ranging in age from 1 to 13, were found after Interpol issued yellow notices for them. Yellow notices are used to help locate missing persons, often minors.
Police officer Nasir Mahmood Bajwa said the children have been in safe custody since their recovery. They were produced before the court on Tuesday under high security. The court ordered the children to be shifted to the custody of the Child Protection Bureau in Rawalpindi city, close to Islamabad.
Police earlier detained 10 relatives of Urfan Sharif, including his father, brothers and cousins, for interrogation in an attempt to pressure the couple to surrender.