Sami Ullah
UNIVERSITY campuses are meant to be places where young people pursue education, build careers and broaden their intellectual horizons. Yet official data from Pakistan’s higher education sector presents a troubling picture. In 2025, authorities recorded 365 alleged drug-related cases across 58 institutions, involving students, female students and support staff. Islamabad reported 153 cases, followed by Punjab with 130, Sindh with 75 and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with seven. While these figures represent reported cases rather than overall prevalence, they show that narcotics have entered educational environments and increasingly require action from universities and law-enforcement agencies.
The data, reported in May 2026 from official documents obtained by The Express Tribune, showed 365 alleged drug-related cases in 58 higher education institutions during 2025. Ten cases involved support staff, while the overwhelming majority concerned students. No faculty members were identified in the reported cases. The geographical distribution is significant. Islamabad’s institutions recorded the highest number, with 153 cases, followed by Punjab at 130 and Sindh at 75. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa recorded seven. These figures suggest that the problem is not confined to one province, institution or student population.
Female students also appeared in the official figures. Punjab recorded 28 cases involving female students, while Islamabad reported 10 and Sindh eight. No such cases were recorded in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during the period covered by the data. Combined, Punjab, Islamabad and Sindh recorded 46 cases involving female students. A separate Express Tribune report published the following day referred to 385 cases across the same 58 institutions, illustrating an inconsistency in the publicly reported totals.
With 153 reported cases, Islamabad accounted for roughly 42 percent of the 365 cases recorded in the main dataset. Punjab represented approximately 36 percent, Sindh about 21 percent and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa less than two percent. These figures should not automatically be interpreted as proof that drug use is more widespread in Islamabad than elsewhere. Higher reporting can reflect differences in monitoring, institutional reporting practices, enforcement activity and the number or characteristics of institutions covered. Nevertheless, the concentration of cases in the capital has placed additional scrutiny on universities operating there. Drug-related activity around educational institutions can involve multiple layers of the campus environment, from students and support personnel to individuals operating outside institutional boundaries. The available data, however, do not establish how many reported cases involved possession, consumption, distribution or other offences. Treating every case as equivalent could therefore obscure important differences in the nature of the incidents. The movement of narcotics into university environments is not necessarily restricted to university premises. Educational institutions exist within wider urban communities, and students often live in private accommodation, hostels and neighbourhoods surrounding campuses.
Pakistan has previously reported cases involving alleged drug suppliers targeting students and operating near educational institutions. Such cases have kept the relationship between campus environments and surrounding drug markets under scrutiny. Transactions can take place away from classrooms and hostels, making detection dependent on intelligence, surveillance and cooperation between institutions and law-enforcement authorities. The 2025 figures therefore represent detected cases rather than a comprehensive map of narcotics distribution around universities.
The HEC has introduced a monitoring mechanism to address drug use and smoking in higher education institutions. Anti-Drug and Tobacco Committees have been established in 245 public and private institutions to monitor activities, raise awareness, investigate complaints and address drug use, sale and distribution. Sub-campuses must establish similar committees.
The establishment of these committees comes against the backdrop of the 2025 case figures and growing parliamentary scrutiny. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education sought detailed information on reported drug cases, preventive measures and existing standard operating procedures concerning drug control in educational institutions. The institutional response now extends beyond individual university disciplinary mechanisms to a more formalised monitoring structure. The significance of drug-related activity on campuses extends beyond individual criminal cases. University students are generally in an age group in which experimentation, peer influence, social pressures and academic stress can interact. Substance use can affect concentration, attendance and academic performance and may develop into dependency in some cases.
Pakistan’s universities have also faced other serious concerns about campus safety. In October 2024, Punjab authorities temporarily closed educational institutions across the province following violent protests triggered by allegations concerning the rape of a female student at a private college in Lahore. Officials said they found no evidence supporting the allegation and described the incident as misinformation, while protests spread across several cities. The Lahore High Court ordered an independent investigation. Establishment of Anti-Drug and Tobacco Committees across 245 institutions, alongside parliamentary scrutiny, shows growing institutional concern. The figures make campus drug activity a documented policy challenge for Pakistan’s higher education system.
—The writer is occasionally contributes.
