sufia karim is played by rani singh. sufia makes her first appearance in walford in 1988, when she moves to walford with her husband ashraf (aftab sachak) and their children shireen (nisha kapur) and sohail (ronnie jhutti). in 1989 she discovers that ashraf is having an affair with a woman named stella (cindy o'callaghan). this affair is eventually exposed to the community, leading to the family leaving walford for bristol in june 1990.