The death of a top-performing Pakistani university graduate has drawn national attention to an alleged overseas admissions fraud, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordering action and the interior minister pledging to personally pursue the case.
Laiba Aijaz, a graduate of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), was found dead in the capital on October 9 in a suspected suicide. Her family alleges that a man obtained millions of rupees from them by promising to arrange her studies in the US.
Aijaz had earned a gold medal in her bachelor’s degree and hoped to continue her education abroad, according to relatives quoted in Pakistani media. To finance those plans, her father sold a plot of land and the family pledged her mother’s jewellery.
According to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) case, reported by Dawn, two suspects allegedly obtained PKR 9.3 million (approximately GBP £25,350) from Aijaz and her family on the promise of arranging a US visa and scholarship.
The agency alleges that the suspects supplied forged scholarship letters, admission offers and university fee receipts, with PKR 2.9 million (approximately £7,900) transferred through Aijaz’s bank account and the remainder paid in cash.
Pakistani media reports, citing the FIA, said the suspect had promised to secure Aijaz’s admission to Harvard University, while relatives said checks on the documents supplied to the family revealed they were fake.
The FIA said the man was not a registered visa agent and had gained the family’s trust by misrepresenting his identity and professional status, including claiming to work as an accountant at Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
The accused should be arrested forthwith and awarded exemplary punishment in accordance with the law
Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistani Prime Minister
The case prompted Sharif to direct Islamabad’s police chief and chief commissioner to take the accused into custody.
“The suicide of the young female student is an extremely regrettable incident,” Sharif said, according to a translated October 10 statement from his office.
“The accused should be arrested forthwith and awarded exemplary punishment in accordance with the law.”
Police and the FIA have registered separate cases, with Pakistani media reporting that the main suspect and two alleged female accomplices were detained during raids in Islamabad.
On October 12, a court granted police five days’ custody of the main suspect, as investigators sought to establish his alleged role and verify the evidence. The allegations remain under investigation.
