A video has come to light in which Sara Sharif’s stepmother, Beinash Batool along with her husband, Urfan Shairf, can be seen together in an undisclosed location. Batool touches upon media reporting of Sara’s death, claiming that they both will cooperate with UK authorities, and that they are on the run out of fear of Pakistani police.
While Urfan Sharif remains silent, Batool reads from a notebook. Speaking briefly of Sara, she says, “Firstly, I would like to talk about Sara. Sara’s death was an accident. Our family in Pakistan are severely affected by all that is going on,”
Accusing the media of making up lies, Beinish says, “Imran [one of Mr Sharif’s brothers] did not give the statement that Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. This was spread through a Pakistani media outlet. I am very worried about Imran’s safety.”
She further claimed that they have run out of food, are unable to leave home because of security concerns, and the children are unable to attend school out of fear.
Furthermore, she explains that they are in hiding because the family fears that the Pakistan police will torture and kill them.
BBC, however, reports that according to police chief Mehmood Bajwa, the allegations of “harassment and torture of family members are false”.
Urfan Sharif’s father had petitioned the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court against the harassment of his family members. While the court barred the police from detaining them again, the officers said questioning will continue.
The Case
On August 10, 10-year-old Sara Sharif was found dead in her home in Woking, England, when her father, Urfan Sharif, called 999 from Pakistan.
Nadeem Riaz, shop owner and a travelling agent, has known Sharif for 11 years. During an interview with The Times, he recalled that on August 8, he booked one way tickets to Pakistan on urgent basis, claiming that his cousin died.
On August 9, Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool, their five children and Sharif’s brother Faisal Malik left for Islamabad from the UK on a British Airways flight.
The next day, Urfan Sharif called 999 after which the police found Sara’s body at home. Surrey Police then began an investigation along with international partners. The same day, after arriving at Islamabad, the family travelled to Jhelum. The police kept on tracking them as they left for Domeli late on August 12, and then left Domeli the very next day. This was the last location tracked.
On August 15, Pakistan police received a request from International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) via FIA to hunt them down.
A few days later, the Pakistani police arrested Sharif’s brother Imran and also spoke with some of the family members.
Sharif’s parents and a number of other relatives are also missing, with the family home and shop in Jhelum locked up and empty. While everyone insisted on not knowing the family’s whereabouts, the police remains unconvinced by their claims.
“We managed to get hold of Imran, but the rest of his family have gone missing. They clearly have something to hide. We got hold of one of them and will be interrogating him until he tells us the truth.”
As reported by Arab News, Imran did confirm to MailOnline that his brother had been in Pakistan on August 9 however, he was alone. He added that he disappeared right after.
BBC also spoke with Urfan Sharif’s father, Muhammad Sharif. According to him, “It was an accident, he didn’t tell me how it happened,” and that the family fled the UK out of fear.
He, however, urged his son to return to the UK and defend himself.
Sara’s mother
Sara Sharif’s mother Olga said in an interview to a Polish channel that Sara was so severely injured that she “did not recognise her” in the mortuary.
“One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised. Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like,” Olga said.
As per the post-mortem examination by Surrey Police, Sara “suffered multiple and extensive injuries”, that seemingly were “caused over a sustained and extended period of time”.
Olga also revealed that she herself was subjected to mistreatment while she was married to Urfan Sharif. When she separated from him in 2015, Sara and her older brother lived with her until 2019, when the family court ordered for them to live with their father while giving equal rights to Olga.
Olga states that the children’s stepmother told her off.
“It’s not normal that once the children were happy, and arguing about who would talk to Mum first, and then the kids don’t even want to talk to me on the phone and are calling me the worst names,” she said.
