Gold Medal, Broken Dreams: Who Failed Laiba Ijaz

Asem Mustafa Awan

Laiba Ijaz had done what countless young Pakistanis are told to do. She studied hard, excelled in physics and earned a gold medal. Her reward was not a life of luxury but the hope of another classroom, another country and a future built on knowledge.

For a family with limited means, that dream came at an unbearable price. Her father reportedly sold a plot of land, while her mother’s jewellery was used to help raise money for the promised journey. The family trusted an education consultant who allegedly offered a route to a university in the United States. Instead, the documents proved fake, the money was lost and Laiba was left devastated.

Behind those sacrifices lay a simple parental belief that education could give their daughter opportunities beyond their own circumstances. The land represented security, the jewellery a lifetime of savings, and the money a family’s faith in a promise. What they were trying to purchase was not privilege, but possibility. When such trust is allegedly exploited, the damage reaches far beyond a bank account. It can shatter the future a young person has spent years preparing to build.

Her death has turned a family’s private grief into a public question. How many parents must sell land, cattle, jewellery or their lifetime savings before the state recognises the dangers faced by families seeking education abroad?

A gold medal should open doors, not become a painful reminder of a dream betrayed. No family should have to navigate a maze of unverified consultants, false promises and forged admission papers without reliable protection. Authorities must make it easier to verify education advisers, check admission offers and report suspected fraud before another family loses everything. Those who exploit students’ ambitions must face the law, and families must not be left alone to discover that a promised future was built on deception.

Pakistan Zindabad means “Long Live Pakistan.” Yet the despair of those who feel compelled to leave has given bitter currency to another phrase, “Pakistan se zinda bhaag” run away from Pakistan while you are still alive.

It is a cruel line, but the duty of a country is not to silence such despair. It is to understand why it exists and act before another family pays the price. Laiba’s gold medal should have been a symbol of achievement and hope. The country must ensure that no other student’s hard-earned success becomes a target for those who trade in dreams and leave devastation behind.