Reported by Al Jazeera
A 24-year-old physics graduate dies after her family pays millions to a man who lied about getting her admitted into the university.
Islamabad, Pakistan – The sign above the Rana Malik Center, a dairy shop in Islamabad’s G-10 neighbourhood, advertises milk, fresh yoghurt, lassi and desi ghee. Rana Muhammad Ijaz has lived with his family in the apartment above for more than three decades.
Sitting outside his shop in late October, Ijaz recalled how his youngest daughter, Laiba, would make tea for him every morning and then again at night before bedtime.
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“She used to massage my shoulders before I went to bed too.” he told Al Jazeera.
Ijaz sat outside his shop, remembering her. “Now that she is gone, I miss it all.”
Laiba Ijaz, 24, a physics gold medallist from the publicly funded International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), was found dead near her home on October 9.
According to the initial findings of a police case, she likely died by suicide after she and her family were defrauded of millions of rupees – tens of thousands of dollars – by a man who promised her admission to Harvard University in the United States.
Muhammad Noman, accused of the fraud, was arrested two days later. He died on October 20 after being shot while in police custody. Police said his accomplices had opened fire to free him.
On October 21, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited the family and handed over more than 5 million rupees ($18,000) that officials said had been recovered from Noman.
But that money means little to Ijaz and his family. What mattered most – his daughter – is gone.
Ijaz studied until the eighth grade and his wife until grade 10, but all four of their daughters went to university.
Two of the sisters studied mathematics while one of Laiba’s elder sisters spent a year in China on a scholarship, learning Mandarin. Laiba, too, studied on scholarships, her father said, and won the gold medal at her university.
“The day she got it, Laiba danced and jumped in front of her sisters,” Ijaz said.
Laiba…