Family members on trial for murder of British-Pakistani girl

An undated handout photo released by Surrey Police in London on September 22, 2023 shows Sara Sharif, who was found dead in Woking, southwest of London, on August 10. (SURREY POLICE via AFP)
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Updated 15 October 2024
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Family members on trial for murder of British-Pakistani girl

  • 10-year-old Sara Sharif was found dead in bed at family home in Woking on Aug. 10, 2023
  • Day before body was found, Sara’s father, step-mother and uncle left UK for Pakistan

LONDON: The body of a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl whose death sparked an international manhunt was found with burn marks believed to have been made by an iron, a prosecutor told a London court on Monday.

Sara Sharif was found dead in bed at her family home in Woking, southern England, on August 10, 2023.

The discovery triggered a manhunt in which Interpol and Britain’s foreign ministry coordinated with authorities in Pakistan.

The day before Sara’s body was found, her father, 42-year-old taxi driver Urfan Sharif, step-mother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, left the UK for Pakistan with Sharif’s five other children.

All three adults are on trial for her murder.

A post-mortem examination found “signs of traumatic head injury,” apparent scald burns on the inside of her ankles and bite marks — five to her left lower arm and one to her inner thigh — that were “probably human.”

Sara’s stepmother Batool has refused to provide a dental impression for comparison with the bite marks, the prosecutor said.

Other injuries included to Sara’s ribs, shoulder blades, fingers and 11 separate fractures to the spine, he added.

The jury was played a recording of a “calm” phone call on the evening of August 8, 2023, in which Batool asks about booking flights to Islamabad.

Sara’s body was found in the family’s empty house after an emergency call, apparently from Pakistan, alerting officers was made by a man identifying himself as the father.

A note from her father found next to her body appeared to contain a confession, the prosecutor told jurors.

“Love you Sara,” said the note, which was shown to the jury.

A second page added: “Whoever see this note its me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.

“I am running away because I am scared but I promise that I will hand over myself and take punishment.”

Another page read: “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her but I lost it.”

A handwriting expert who analyzed the note concluded it was written by Urfan Sharif.

The three defendants — arrested in September last year after disembarking from a flight from Dubai — all deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.


Pakistan Railways suspends Quetta train operations for four days after deadly bombing

Updated 11 sec ago
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Pakistan Railways suspends Quetta train operations for four days after deadly bombing

  • The suicide bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed 26 people and injured 64 others on Saturday morning
  • This was the deadliest attack since coordinated assaults in August that killed over 50 people in Balochistan

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways has suspended train operations from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta to other parts of the country for four days, it said on Sunday, a day after a deadly bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed more than two dozen people.
At least 26 people were killed and 64 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the crowded railway station early on Saturday morning in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, according to officials.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest since a string of coordinated assaults on Aug. 25-26 in which more than 50 people, civilians and security officials, were killed in the region.
On Sunday, Aamir Ali Baloch, chief executive officer of Pakistan Railways, announced the suspension of train operations in view of security concerns and in the interest of passenger safety.
“Operations will resume as soon as clearance is granted,” Pakistan Railways said in a statement on Sunday night.
Train service from Quetta to other cities remained suspended for more than a month after separatist militants blew up a key bridge in the southwestern Balochistan province on August 26.
Built in 1887, the five-span bridge was the second such link constructed by the British Army at the Bolan Pass after reaching an agreement with the then Khan of Kalat, Meer Khuda-e-Dad Khan, to extend the railway network to Quetta and Chaman near the Afghan border.
Baloch said Pakistan Railways had successfully restored Quetta’s connection with the rest of the country and such incidents would not weaken their resolve. He said compensation would be provided to the families of the deceased and to the injured according to the railways insurance policy.
“Fifty injured individuals are currently being treated in trauma centers, where Pakistan Railways’ medical teams are present to provide care,” he said, commending the Quetta division team of railways for the immediate relief operations.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s most impoverished province where separatist militants have been fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral and gas wealth by the federation at the center. The province is home to major China-led investment projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine.
The Pakistani government and military deny they are exploiting Balochistan and have long maintained that neighbors such as India, Afghanistan and Iran foment trouble in the remote province and support and fund the insurgency there to impede its development potential.
 


Pakistan PM to attend Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza and Lebanon today 

Updated 45 min 29 sec ago
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Pakistan PM to attend Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza and Lebanon today 

  • Israel has killed over 43,000 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, through relentless air and ground offensives
  • Pakistan's deputy PM on Sunday urged international community to hold Israel accountable for its "war crimes"

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the extraordinary Arab–Islamic summit meeting between the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) scheduled to be held today, Monday, in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss Israel's ongoing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and the Middle East situation.
Sharif arrived in Riyadh on Sunday night to join various Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital who will attend the summit called to discuss Israel's relentless military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel has waged war in Gaza since October last year, killing over 43,000 people and rendering the strip of land almost uninhabitable.  Last month, it also invaded Lebanon, killing 3,000 people since.
"Landed in Riyadh where I will join the leaders of the Muslim Ummah at the Joint Arab Islamic Summit being convened to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza and speak with one voice for the rights of the Palestinian people and reaffirm our collective call for regional peace," Sharif wrote on social media platform X.

In this handout photo, taken and released by Pakistan’s Press Information Department on November 11, 2024, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks during a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Governor of Riyadh Region Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz at the Royal terminal of Riyadh International Airport in Riyad on November 10, 2024, ahead of the Arab–Islamic summit in Saudi capital to discuss Israel's ongoing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and the Middle East situation. (Photo courtesy: PMO)

Sharif's office earlier said the prime minister was also expected to meet with world leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
The summit today will be a follow-up to the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit held in November 2023 in Riyadh, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry. Sharif will reiterate Pakistan's full support to the Palestinian cause in his address at the gathering.
On Sunday, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, attended a meeting of the OIC's Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Riyadh, wherein he called on the world to hold Israel accountable for its "war crimes" in Gaza.
"[Dar] expressed alarm at Israeli adventurism in the Middle East that is endangering peace and security in the region," the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement. "[He] called on the international community to bring an end to Gaza genocide."
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on "internationally agreed parameters."
Islamabad has also dispatched more than 1,300 tons of relief goods for Gaza and Lebanon, besides establishing the 'Prime Minister's Relief Fund for Gaza and Lebanon' that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.
After attending the summit on Monday, the Pakistani prime minister will visit Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday to participate in a two-day World Leaders Climate Action Summit being held as part of the 29th UN Climate Change Conference.
"The prime minister will make a robust call for climate solidarity and climate justice, based on the established principles of equity," state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.


Militant attack on Pakistani border leaves 5 security forces dead, Iran says

Updated 11 November 2024
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Militant attack on Pakistani border leaves 5 security forces dead, Iran says

  • No group claims responsibility for attack that took place in Iran's Saravan city in southeast
  • Sistan-Baluchestan province has been site of clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers

TEHRAN: A militant attack near the Pakistani border with Iran left five Iranian forces dead, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday.
The report said the dead were ethnic Baloch members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force and were killed in Saravan city in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Saravan is some 1,400 km (870 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Earlier in the day, state TV reported that Revolutionary Guard forces killed three "terrorists" and arrested nine others in a military operation. The report did not specify which group the suspects belonged to.
Last month, unknown gunmen killed four people, including the chief of the Revolutionary Guard in the province.
In September, gunmen killed four border guards in Sistan and Baluchestan province in two separate attacks. The militant group Jaish al-Adl, which seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baloch minority, claimed responsibility for one attack in which one officer and two soldiers were killed.
The province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been the site of occasional deadly clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers and Iranian security forces. It is one of the least developed parts of Iran. Relations between the predominantly Sunni Muslim residents of the region and Iran’s Shiite theocracy have long been strained.


Pakistan’s record smog triggers anguish and anxiety

Updated 29 min 6 sec ago
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Pakistan’s record smog triggers anguish and anxiety

  • Lahore, a city of 14 million people on the border with India, regularly ranks among world’s most polluted cities
  • Schools in main cities of Punjab province, of which Lahore is capital, have closed until Nov. 17 due to the smog

LAHORE: On the streets of Pakistan’s second biggest city, smog stings eyes and burns throats. Inside homes, few people can afford air purifiers to limit the damage of toxic particles that seep through doors and windows.
Lahore — a city of 14 million people stuffed with factories on the border with India — regularly ranks among the world’s most polluted cities, but it has hit record levels this month.
Schools have closed in the main cities of Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital, until November 17 in a bid to lower children’s exposure to the pollution, especially during the morning commute when it is often at its highest.
“The children are constantly coughing, they have constant allergies. In schools we saw that most of the children were falling sick,” said Rafia Iqbal a 38-year-old primary school teacher in the city that borders India.
Her husband Muhammad Safdar, a 41-year-old advertising professional, said the level of pollution “is making daily living impossible.”
“We cannot move around, we cannot go outside, we can do nothing at all,” he told AFP.
According to the international Air Quality Index Scale, an index value of 300 or higher results is “hazardous” to health and Pakistan has regularly tipped over 1,000 on the scale.
In Multan, another city of several million people some 350 kilometers away, the AQI level passed 2,000 last week — a staggering height never seen before by incredulous residents.
Access to parks, zoos, playgrounds, historic monuments, museums and recreational areas will be banned until November 17 and tuk-tuks with polluting two-stroke engines, along with restaurants that operate barbecues without filters have been banned in Lahore “hot-spots.”
Air purifiers are luxury for most families, with the cheapest priced at around $90, with the added cost of replacing filters every few months in such extreme pollution.
Safdar and Iqbal do not have air purifiers and instead try to contain their children to one room.
“Preventive measures should have been taken. It’s a yearly occurrence,” Safdar said of the government.
“Obviously there is something missing in their solution.”
A mix of low-grade fuel emissions from factories and vehicles, exacerbated by agricultural stubble burning, blanket the city each winter, trapped by cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds.
The WHO says that air pollution can trigger strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.
It is particularly punishing for children and babies, and the elderly.
Last year, the Punjab government tested artificial rain to try to overcome the smog, and this year, trucks with water cannons sprayed the streets — with no results.
Special smog counters to triage patients have been established at clinics across the province, with 900 people admitted to hospital in Lahore alone on Tuesday.
Doctor Qurat ul Ain, a hospital doctor for 15 years, witnesses the damage from an emergency rooms in Lahore.
“This year smog is much more than previous years and the number of patients suffering from its effects is greater too,” she told AFP.
Many arrive with labored breathing or coughing fits and reddened eyes, often the elderly, children and young men who have breathed in the toxic air while on the back of motorbikes.
“We tell people not to go out and otherwise to wear a mask. We tell them not to touch their eyes with their hands, especially children,” she adds.
For days the concentration of polluting micro-particles PM2.5 in Punjab has been dozens of times higher than that deemed tolerable by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Doctor Alia Haider, also a climate activist, is calling for awareness campaigns for patients who often do not know the dangers of smog.
Children from poor neighborhoods, she said, are the first victims because they live all year round with pollutants of different types.
“We are stuck in our own poison,” she said. It’s like a cloud of gas over the city.”


Pakistan Railways suspends Quetta train operations for four days after deadly bombing

Updated 11 November 2024
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Pakistan Railways suspends Quetta train operations for four days after deadly bombing

  • The suicide bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed 26 people and injured 64 others on Saturday morning
  • This was the deadliest attack since coordinated assaults in August that killed over 50 people in Balochistan

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways has suspended train operations from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta to other parts of the country for four days, it said on Sunday, a day after a deadly bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed more than two dozen people.
At least 26 people were killed and 64 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the crowded railway station early on Saturday morning in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, according to officials.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest since a string of coordinated assaults on Aug. 25-26 in which more than 50 people, civilians and security officials, were killed in the region.
On Sunday, Aamir Ali Baloch, chief executive officer of Pakistan Railways, announced the suspension of train operations in view of security concerns and in the interest of passenger safety.
“Operations will resume as soon as clearance is granted,” Pakistan Railways said in a statement on Sunday night.
Train service from Quetta to other cities remained suspended for more than a month after separatist militants blew up a key bridge in the southwestern Balochistan province on August 26.
Built in 1887, the five-span bridge was the second such link constructed by the British Army at the Bolan Pass after reaching an agreement with the then Khan of Kalat, Meer Khuda-e-Dad Khan, to extend the railway network to Quetta and Chaman near the Afghan border.
Baloch said Pakistan Railways had successfully restored Quetta’s connection with the rest of the country and such incidents would not weaken their resolve. He said compensation would be provided to the families of the deceased and to the injured according to the railways insurance policy.
“Fifty injured individuals are currently being treated in trauma centers, where Pakistan Railways’ medical teams are present to provide care,” he said, commending the Quetta division team of railways for the immediate relief operations.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s most impoverished province where separatist militants have been fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral and gas wealth by the federation at the center. The province is home to major China-led investment projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine.
The Pakistani government and military deny they are exploiting Balochistan and have long maintained that neighbors such as India, Afghanistan and Iran foment trouble in the remote province and support and fund the insurgency there to impede its development potential.