Police in Pakistan have claimed they were not asked to search for the family of Sara Sharif until five days after her body was found in Britain.
The 10-year-old girl was found dead on August 10 at her home Woking a day after three of her relatives, including her father, fled the UK to Islamabad.
Police launched an international manhunt after discovering Sara’s body following a phone call made by her father Urfan Sharif, 41, who left the country to Islamabad with his wife Beinash Batool, 29, and brother Faisal Malik, 28, a day earlier.
According to the BBC, the Punjab police were first told to begin the search on August 15, after they received a request from Interpol through Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency or FIA.
Surrey Police, who are carrying out the investigation in the UK, have not confirmed when they asked Interpol to begin the manhunt.
Police in Pakistan have claimed they were not asked to search for the family of Sara Sharif until five days after her body was found in Britain
Police launched an international manhunt after discovering Sara’s body following a phone call made by her father Urfan Sharif, 41, (pictured) who left the country to Islamabad
Urfan Sharif, 41, his wife Beinash Batool (pictured left), 29, and his brother Faisal Malik (pictured right), 28, fled the UK a day before Sara’s body was found
Investigators from the Pakistani police force told the BBC that they believe Sara’s father arrived at his sister and brother-in-law’s home late on August 12 before leaving at 5am the next day.
Syed Khurram Ali, regional police chief with the Punjab police told the BBC: ‘His brother-in-law said that they were leaving the house at 5am and I asked them you came at 12 in the night now you are leaving so quickly.
‘They said we have some important thing to do, but didn’t explain what. When we asked the family what was the reason for the visit, they say it is just a routine visit.’
The family said they had not seen him since. The uncle of Mr Sharif’s brother-in-law, Ameer Afzal, told the broadcaster: ‘I didn’t meet him personally, but my family told me in the morning that he visited with his family at night.’
After this date, police officers reportedly said they did not know where they traveled to into the country.
Earlier this week it was reported that Pakistan police officers had widened their search around two more areas around the city of Jhelum after new information was provided by multiple sources.
Earlier this month, a post-mortem revealed Sara had suffered ‘multiple and extensive injuries’ that were ‘likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time’.
Ten-year-old Sara Sharif was tragically found dead at her home in Woking earlier this month. Here, she is pictured with her mother Olga
Coroner Simon Wickens opened the inquest at Surrey Coroner’s Court today
Sharif ‘s body was found at a property in Hammond Road, Woking earlier this month
Her precise cause of death was ‘not yet ascertained’ but was deemed likely to be ‘unnatural’, coroner Simon Wickens found at Surrey Coroner’s Court.
He then adjourned inquest proceedings until February next year to allow police time to investigate.
Mr Wickens offered his ‘sincere condolences’ to all those ‘touched by Sara’s short life’.
The opening of Sara’s inquest comes after the news that Mr Sharif is on the verge of handing himself in to police in Pakistan.
Sara’s mother Olga Sharif has urged her ex-husband to ‘give up’ and hand himself in to police.
Surrey Police are continuing to appeal for information to help them piece together a picture of Sara’s lifestyle prior to her death.
They widened the timescale of their investigation after the post-mortem examination revealed that Sara had suffered multiple and extensive injuries, likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time.