Police in Pakistan are seeking to arrest the father of 10-year-old Sara Sharif in connection with her death, officers in the eastern Punjab province said on Saturday.
Sara was found dead at her home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August.
Police in the UK earlier identified her father, Urfan Sharif, his partner, Beinash Batool, and Mr Sharif’s brother, Faisal Shahzad Malik, as people they want to speak to as part of a murder investigation.
Mr Sharif travelled to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad with Ms Batool and Mr Malik on 9 August.
His family home is in Jhelum, Punjab, around 84 miles from the capital.
There are five children with the group, ranging from one to 13 years of age, the police said in a statement.
Officer Imran Ahmed said police found evidence that Mr Sharif briefly returned to Jhelum, before leaving and going into hiding.
While another officer in Jhelum, Nisar Ahmed, said he and his men visited the village of Kari – where Mr Sharif was born – but learned the family left around 20 years ago and never returned.
There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan.
The cause of Sara’s death is “still to be established” but a post-mortem revealed that she suffered “multiple and extensive injuries”, which were “likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time”.
It is now known that Mr Sharif called 999 from Islamabad on 10 August, expressing a concern for his eldest daughter’s safety – although the exact details of the conversation are unknown.
Sky News has seen the passports and holding plane tickets for Mr Sharif, Ms Batool and Mr Malik.
Eight tickets in total were booked by Sara’s father.
Officers from Surrey Police remain at the family’s property in Hammond Road in Horsell, a village less than a mile north of Woking town centre.
They continue to work with international authorities.
