Siblings of murdered schoolgirl Sara Sharif, 10, forced to remain in Pakistan

Siblings of murdered schoolgirl Sara Sharif, 10, forced to remain in Pakistan Surrey County Council says it has no choice but to withdraw from proceedings to bring murdered 10-year-old Sara Sharif's five siblings back home to the UK The siblings of murdered Sara Sharif will remain in Pakistan despite a UK council having "done everything within our power to support" them. 10-year-old Sara was murdered by her father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool after enduring years of "despicable" abuse. Her body was discovered in a bunk bed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10, 2023 - a day after Sharif and Batool fled to Pakistan and took Sara's five siblings with them. The pair were jailed for life with minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively in December 2024, after being found guilty of her murder. Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, who was living in the house at the time, was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, and was jailed for 16 years. Sara's siblings, whose identities are protected by a court order, were left in the care of their paternal grandfather but were taken into state care after being discovered by Pakistani police during efforts to locate Sharif, Batool and Malik. Once the three adults returned to the UK in September 2023, the children had been made wards of court by a High Court judge in London - meaning they needed to be returned to the UK. Surrey County Council were then allowed to apply to the High Court in Lahore, Pakistan, to begin the process of bringing them home. In December 2025, an order was issued by the High Court in England which said proceedings would be dismissed in six months if there was no application to extend them and no developments in Pakistan, the BBC reported. That order is understood to have now come to an end and Surrey County Council said it has no choice but to withdraw from proceedings. The council added that it does not have the ability to pursue the application to bring the children back to the UK. Terence Herbert, chief executive of Surrey County Council, said: "Surrey County Council has done everything within our power to support the siblings and half-siblings of Sara Sharif in Pakistan. "The children were made wards of the High Court and an order was sought to return the children to England. "The High Court gave permission for the council to make an application to the high court in Lahore to seek to secure the return of the children and that application was made. "The English court proceedings are about to come to an end, which means the Pakistan proceedings in Lahore have concluded." Speaking in an interview at the end of 2024, Sara's paternal grandfather Muhammad Sharif said he would fight to keep custody of the children. "They are enrolled in a reputable school, and we ensure their safety by personally transporting them to and from school," he told the Sunday Times. "I am their guardian and this is the safest place for them to live in, they have an association with me and they are not willing to leave me. We will win the case."