Police in Pakistan have reportedly raided at least 20 homes in the search for relatives of Sara Sharif.
The 10-year-old’s body was found at her family home in Hammond Road, Woking, on August 10 after police were called from Pakistan by her father Urfan Sharif.
A post-mortem examination found she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a “sustained and extended” period of time.
Sara was living with Mr Sharif and his partner Beinash Batool when she died.
The couple and Mr Sharif’s brother, 28-year-old Faisal Malik, are thought to have fled to Pakistan along with five children on August 9, the day before Sara’s body was discovered.
The trio are wanted by police in the UK for questioning.
Police in Pakistan were on Thursday morning carrying out raids on properties, concentrating on the cities of Jhelum and Mirpur, in northern Pakistan, according to Sky News.
It came a day after Sara’s stepmother, 29, broke her silence following the young girl’s death.
She and Mr Sharif, 41, appeared in a grainy video clip shared on Wednesday, in which Ms Batool described Sara’s death as “an incident” and said the couple were “willing to cooperate with the UK authorities”.
Reading a prepared statement from a notepad, Ms Batool said in the short clip: “Firstly, I would like to talk about Sara. Sara’s death was an incident. Our family in Pakistan are severely affected by all that is going on.”
She went on to accuse the media of “giving wrong statements and making up lies”.
“All our family members have gone into hiding as everyone is scared for their safety,” she said.
“No-one is leaving the house. The groceries have run out and there is no food for the kids.”
She ended by saying: “Lastly, we are willing to cooperate with the UK authorities and fight our case in court.”
Mr Sharif was seated beside her in the footage but remained silent.
Sara’s mother, Olga Sharif, has told of the grief she felt as she went to identify her daughter’s body in the mortuary.
“One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised,” she told Polish television programme Uwaga!.
“Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like.”
Ms Sharif said in the interview she had separated from her husband in 2015, and Sara and her older brother had lived with her until 2019 when the family court ruled they should live with their father.
Ms Sharif still had equal rights to see the children and said while that was easy to maintain initially, it became increasingly harder over time.
Sara’s grandfather previously told the BBC Sara’s death was an “accident” and three family members who left the UK for Pakistan will “ultimately” return to face police questioning.
Surrey Police is appealing for information to help them piece together a picture of Sara’s life.
Surrey County Council told the PA news agency she was known to the local authority.
