10 hours ago

The siblings of Sara Sharif - the 10-year-old murdered by her father and stepmother - will stay in Pakistan after Surrey County Council said it had no choice but to withdraw from a legal case to return them to the UK.

The five children have been living with their paternal grandfather in Jhelum since October 2023.

But a decision regarding who will get final custody and which country the children should live in has been the focus of a series of stop-start court battles in Pakistan over two-and-a-half years.

The children, who are all in school apart from the youngest, were made wards of court in England and the council had been trying to bring them back through the courts in Pakistan.

Their grandfather has been fighting for them to stay with him.

A spokesperson for Surrey County Council told the BBC the council has no ability to pursue the application in Pakistan, as English proceedings are coming to an end.

The final decision about who has final custody is still pending, but either current option would mean the children remain in Pakistan.

The grandfather's lawyer has said that as the children retain joint nationality and that they can return to the UK if they choose in the future.

It has been nearly three years since 10-year-old Sara Sharif's body was found in a house in Woking on 10th August 2023.

By then, her father, Urfan Sharif, and stepmother, Beinash Batool and her uncle, Faisal Malik had taken the five children and fled to Pakistan.

On 11 September 2023 the children were found when police raided Urfan's father's house in Jhelum.

They were initially put into a childcare facility, but in October 2023 their grandfather was given temporary custody.

The adults returned to the UK on 13 September 2023 and were arrested on their arrival at Gatwick airport.

Sara's father and stepmother were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

After Sara's death, her siblings were made wards of court and an English court ordered that they should be returned to England.

Surrey County Council has been fighting a case which has resulted in long legal arguments about whether they have any jurisdiction in Pakistan over the children.

The BBC has attended the court in Pakistan on more than a dozen occasions. In that time, the case has been delayed without being heard on multiple occasions, heard in part, restarted with a new judge and twice suspended over the summer recess.

The eldest of the siblings, who is now a teenager, has attended the vast majority of these cases.

At a recent hearing, the judge said that the questions raised were "very important". However, the Pakistan courts have never given an answer regarding Surrey council's jurisdiction over the children.

The hearings about the children in the UK have been held in private but the BBC attended many of the hearings.

In a court order from December 2025, the judge states that wardship proceedings relating to the children would be dismissed in six months if there was no application to extend them and that the children were no longer in the care and control of Surrey council.

In a statement, Terence Herbert, the council's chief executive, said it "has done everything within our power to support the siblings and half siblings of Sara Sharif in Pakistan".

He added: "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."