Reporting snapshot · 11 October 2026 (Asia/Karachi). This report draws on the family's account and on statements by the Islamabad police, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Prime Minister's Office and the Interior Ministry. The fraud allegations have not been tested in court, the post-mortem findings have not been published, and the sums cited by the family and in the FIA's case file differ.
What happened
Pakistan’s federal authorities have moved to prosecute a study-abroad admission fraud after the death of Laiba Ijaz, a gold-medal graduate of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) whose family says it spent its savings with a consultant who promised a US university place and a scholarship.
Laiba’s body was found in Islamabad’s G-10 sector, in the jurisdiction of the Ramna police station, on Friday, 9 October 2026, The Express Tribune reported. Police said the preliminary finding was death by suicide and that the cause would be confirmed by a post-mortem examination, Geo News reported. Her family said she had completed a bachelor’s degree at IIUI with a gold medal and hoped to continue her studies abroad.
Her maternal uncle, Rana Amjad, a lawyer, told reporters the family dealt with the consultant after he offered to arrange a US admission. Laiba’s father, who has sold milk on a motorcycle in Islamabad for about 30 years and lives with the family in a rented flat, sold a plot and paid Rs2.1 million in cash, while her mother’s jewellery was deposited with a bank to raise the remainder, Geo News and The Express Tribune reported. When relatives in the United States checked the papers, the family says, they were found to be forged.
How the alleged fraud worked
According to the FIA’s account of its inquiry, the suspects produced an admission offer letter attributed to Harvard University, a scholarship award letter and fee-payment receipts to keep the family convinced the process was genuine. The FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle in Islamabad registered a first information report, FIR-AHTC-ICT-977/26, on 10 October under Sections 419, 420 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Sections 18 and 22 of the Emigration Ordinance, 1979, naming Muhammad Nauman and Fatima Sarwar, Pakistan Today reported.
The family’s first public account put its loss at about Rs7 million. The FIA’s FIR cites a total of Rs9.3 million, of which Rs2.9 million was moved through Laiba’s own bank account and the rest paid in cash, Pakistan Today reported. Geo News, citing the FIA Islamabad Zone director, Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari, gave a different breakdown again: Rs7.2 million allegedly taken from Laiba and a further Rs500,000 from her brother on the promise of a government job. KhabarWire could not reconcile the totals; all the figures are preliminary and attributed.
The family said the consultant presented himself at various times as an employee of the superior judiciary or of a government institution, and that a woman said to be based in the United States had been part of the scheme. The FIA named a second suspect, a woman, in its case. The family said Laiba had planned to surprise her relatives with news of a university place before she discovered the documents were false.
The government response
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of the death on Saturday, 10 October, describing it as an extremely regrettable incident and directing the Islamabad inspector general of police and the chief commissioner to arrest the suspect and ensure exemplary punishment under the law, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, as The Express Tribune reported.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry visited the bereaved family. Naqvi called the matter a “test case”, said the authorities would recover the money and punish those responsible, and placed the episode within the government’s wider campaign against human smuggling and trafficking, The Express Tribune reported. He also cited the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency’s limited capacity — a staff of 61 handling roughly 3,000 complaints a day — and said recommendations had been sent to the prime minister to strengthen it.
The FIA said its main suspect had been arrested and was being interrogated, with raids under way for others, The Express Tribune and Pakistan Today reported. Islamabad police registered a separate case over the death, under Sections 322 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, although that FIR was sealed and the arrest could not be independently confirmed when Pakistan Today filed its report. Laiba’s funeral prayers were offered on Saturday.
Why the case matters beyond one family
The case has drawn attention to the market in study-abroad and immigration advice on which many Pakistani families stake their savings, and to the gaps in how that market is policed. Pakistanis seeking foreign university places, work visas or family migration routinely rely on private consultants, but the sector is lightly regulated, and the FIA and the Interior Ministry treat document forgery in the immigration process as part of the wider fight against people-smuggling.
That enforcement has been active in 2026. In September, the FIA booked 22 people, including six Foreign Office officials, over an alleged network that produced fake apostille stickers and forged attestation documents in Islamabad, which KhabarWire reported. The same month, Britain and Pakistan agreed to tighten cooperation on visa fraud, border management and irregular migration. Both strands bear on the same problem: forged or misrepresented paperwork presented to foreign universities and immigration authorities.
Naqvi’s framing also places the case inside the trafficking debate. He said the main suspect was a “swindler” rather than part of an organised trafficking gang, even as he cited a fall in smuggling.
For families, the practical point is procedural: admission offers, scholarship letters and fee receipts should be checked directly with the university or an official channel before money changes hands. KhabarWire cannot offer individual legal or financial advice.
What is still uncertain
Several central facts remain open. The post-mortem examination that will establish the cause of death has not been published. The FIA’s FIR describes the alleged financial fraud and the resulting distress as preceding Laiba’s death, but that is the agency’s account, not a court finding. Neither suspect has been convicted, and the role of any other individuals is still being assessed.
The sums also differ by source. The family’s public account refers to about Rs7 million; the FIA’s FIR cites Rs9.3 million; and the FIA’s Islamabad Zone director gave a different breakdown again. KhabarWire has reported the ranges rather than settle on a single figure. Because the police FIR into the death is sealed, the precise charges and the identities listed there are not public, and the FIA has not said whether further suspects will be named.
Whether the case leads to regulation of overseas-education and visa consultants is another open question. Officials have promised a crackdown, but no draft rules, registration requirement or licensing body has been announced. The Express Tribune reported that investigators would also examine the role of any other individuals involved.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published reporting, not eyewitness coverage. Sources were reviewed on 11 October 2026 (Asia/Karachi). The account of the family's payments, the alleged forged documents and the police response is drawn from Geo News and The Express Tribune; the FIA's FIR number, legal sections, suspects and financial figures are drawn from Pakistan Today; the prime minister's directive and the interior minister's remarks are taken from the same outlets' reports of the Prime Minister's Office and Interior Ministry statements. The alleged fraud has not been tested in court, and the post-mortem findings are not yet public.
- Geo News — Islamabad student allegedly dies by suicide after losing millions in US university admission scam10 October 2026 · The police account of the death in G-10, the family's payments and the FIA Islamabad Zone director's account of the amounts and the forged documents.
- The Express Tribune — PM Shehbaz takes notice of gold medallist's suicide in Islamabad following education funds scam10 October 2026 · The prime minister's directive, the FIA case and arrest, the interior minister's remarks, and the sealed Islamabad police case.
- Pakistan Today — FIA registers FIR in Laiba Ijaz suicide probe case10 October 2026 · FIR-AHTC-ICT-977/26, the PPC sections and Emigration Ordinance provisions, the two named suspects and the Rs9.3 million figure.
- The Express Tribune — Islamabad student found dead after allegedly losing Rs7m in education scam10 October 2026 · The family's first account of the plot sale, the payments and the forged Harvard admission letter.
