RAWALPINDI/LONDON — Sara Sharif’s grandfather has told the BBC that five children who traveled from the UK to Pakistan with Sara’s father have been taken by police.
Neighbors said that dozens of officers raided the grandfather’s house, where the children were hiding, on Monday.
Ten-year-old Sara was found dead at her family home in Woking on Aug. 10 — a day after her father and his partner fled the UK.
Post-mortem tests found Sara sustained “multiple and extensive injuries”.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool left the UK with five children aged between one and 13.
Muhammad Sharif, Sara’s grandfather, told the BBC that he had been hiding the children in his home in the northeastern city of Jhelum since their arrival on Aug. 10t.
“Since they came from the UK, I didn’t let them go,” Sharif told the BBC.
“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.”
Sharif had previously repeatedly denied being in touch with his son or knowing where the family was.
The BBC also spoke to sisters of Urfan Sharif, who said the children were very upset.
“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 (11:30 GMT).
Officers stopped traffic and prevented anyone from filming on their phones, neighbors said.
Sharif accused the police of breaking CCTV cameras and the gates of his home.
Police have confirmed that they have the children, but Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, stepmother, Beinash Batool, and uncle, Faisal Malik, were not with the children.
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 girl was found dead. Sara’s father was also in the video, but did not speak, while Batool read from a notebook.
Batool described Sara’s death as “an incident” and said she and Urfan Sharif were willing to cooperate with UK authorities.
She said that the reason the family are in hiding is 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. — BBC