Kashmiri MBBS graduates from Pakistan, Bangladesh under scanner after ‘white-collar’ terror module bust

Srinagar: The unearthing of a “white-collar” terror module with alleged links to educated professionals, including medical degree holders, has prompted security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir and other States to intensify scrutiny of individuals who obtained MBBS degrees from Pakistan and Bangladesh over the past two decades.

Officials say hundreds of Kashmiri students travelled to Pakistan from the early 2000s onwards for medical education, and many more shifted to Bangladesh in recent years, creating a pool now being re-examined for possible financial and cross-border linkages.

The first wave of Kashmiri students headed to Pakistan between 2001 and 2010, joining medical colleges in Rawalpindi, Abbottabad, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad and Peshawar. Many had crossed over during peak militancy, while others travelled on student visas or through links facilitated by separatist networks and families of militants.

Intelligence agencies have long maintained that some of these admissions were subsidised or supported by organisations later linked to terror financing, including Pakistan-based charities. In several instances, tuition payments were allegedly routed through hawala channels, creating vulnerabilities that handlers could exploit later.

After returning to Kashmir, many Pakistan-educated graduates struggled with recognition issues and the mandatory screening exam in India. Agencies believe a small number stayed in touch with operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, though most integrated into legitimate healthcare roles or moved abroad for work. 

Officials emphasise that the concern is limited to a minority whose travel patterns, financial transactions or communications raise red flags.

As scrutiny around Pakistan-educated doctors increased, Kashmiri students began turning to Bangladesh for MBBS courses in the last decade. Dozens of students enrolled in colleges in Dhaka, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Chittagong, drawn by lower costs and a more predictable admission system.

While Bangladesh itself posed no security problem, investigators say that in a few cases, agents operating in both countries facilitated admissions using unclear financial channels, prompting questions about money trails and foreign contacts. Authorities are also examining instances where students studying in Bangladesh reportedly travelled to Pakistan or Gulf countries without clear academic reasons.

The immediate trigger for the wide review was the recent bust of a “white-collar” terror network, in which at least three doctors and several professionals have been detained.

Investigators say the module relied on individuals with clean profiles —doctors, degree holders, and technical graduates — to move funds, relay communication and provide logistical support for handlers across the border. The arrests have reinforced concerns that medical education routes abroad were occasionally misused to build sleeper networks and trusted intermediaries.

Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA and Central intelligence units are now compiling a consolidated database of all Kashmiri students who pursued MBBS degrees in Pakistan between 1998 and 2015 and those who studied in Bangladesh from 2010 onwards, sources said. The exercise includes verification of funding sources, admission facilitators, cross-border family links, and the professional status of returnees, including those running unregistered clinics or repeatedly failing the Indian medical screening exams.

Officials stress that the majority of these doctors are law-abiding and continue to serve in government hospitals, private facilities and Gulf countries. However, the discovery of a network using educated operatives has prompted what one senior officer described as “a necessary, targeted security audit to isolate the small number who may have been compromised”.

Following alerts shared with multiple States, several northeastern and northern States are also reviewing foreign-educated medical graduates, especially those who pursued low-cost MBBS programmes abroad. 

Officials say the probe is not intended to cast suspicion on foreign medical education as a whole, but to map how Pakistan-based handlers may have exploited these academic routes to cultivate individuals who could blend into professional spaces while quietly supporting logistical or financial operations.

The investigation is expected to expand in the coming weeks, with agencies preparing a detailed dossier on the education–funding nexus and assessing whether regulatory measures or enhanced vetting will be required for future applicants to medical colleges in certain regions.