‘People want the truth’: Mosque leader’s desperate plea to Sara Sharif’s fleeing dad
The leader of a mosque attended by Sara Sharif’s family has urged the three relatives who fled the country following her death to cooperate with police.
Sara, 10, was discovered at a house in Surrey in the early hours of August 10 following a phone call from her father Urfan Sharif from Pakistan.
Sharif, 41, his partner Beinash Batool, 29, brother Faisal Malik, 28, and five children left the UK for Islamabad the day before Sara was discovered sparking an international manhunt.
Pakistani authorities are working with British police to locate the trio.
Shah Jahan Mosque leader Hafiz Hashmi has appealed they come forward, pleading with Sharif to talk to investigators about his daughter.
‘First of all, a father should not leave his child like this. We can’t believe this… if a child is in a situation like this, we should stay in this country with our children,’ he told The Mirror.
Issuing a direct plea to Sharif, he added: ‘As Sara’s father, if you know police investigating want to speak with you, you should speak with the police. You should cooperate with the police.’
The imam has also reached out, through police, to Sarah’s grieving mother Olga Sharif to offer condolences and support.
‘I contacted the police because I wanted to pay my respects to the mother. At the same time I [wanted to] assure her that I will support and help her whenever the time comes – even if this is after the investigation,’ he said.
‘Sara is always here in our thoughts and prayers and we think of her loved ones and pray to God. Whatever we can do to support the investigation we are doing.’
Pakistani are reportedly ‘close to locating’ Sara’s relatives having questioned the father, brother and uncle of Sharif.
In a statement to The Mirror, Rawalpindi Region police chief Khurram Ali said the force was trying its ‘level best’ to find Sharif, Batool and Malik, and was ‘close to locating them’.
It comes as Surrey Police issued a new 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.
Det Supt Mark Chapman thanked people who had already spoken to officers, but urged other come forward.
‘We know that there will be lots of people in the Woking community and beyond who will have had contact with Sara who may not already have come forward, and we would encourage them to do so,’ he said.
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