Afghan Medical Students in Pakistan Hope Court Stops College Expulsions
About 1,000 Afghan students face regulatory action as Pakistan’s medical council orders them to leave while a court temporarily blocks expulsions.
- On Friday, the Lahore High Court issued a temporary stay halting deportations of Afghan medical students, challenging a Pakistan Medical and Dental Council directive requiring them to return home.
- Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan have deteriorated since the Taliban government's return to power in 2021, prompting the PMDC to issue the directive warning non-compliance would be "viewed seriously."
- Approximately 1,000 medical and dental students face uncertainty, with 65% holding valid visas. Final-year student Mubin Ulfati described his 24-hour evacuation order as "the death of my hopes to become a doctor."
- Amnesty International denounced the move as "patently discriminatory and arbitrary," citing Pakistan's human rights obligations. However, similar petitions faced rejection in Balochistan and Sindh, creating confusion across provinces.
- This directive occurs within a broader deportation drive that has seen more than 2.5 million Afghans leave Pakistan since 2023. Legal representatives indicate the case could escalate to Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court if provincial petitions fail.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Afghan Medical Graduates Challenge Pakistan Repatriation Order in Lahore High Court
Five Afghan medical graduates have challenged Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) directives ordering them to return to Afghanistan, arguing that the decision unlawfully blocks them from completing the mandatory clinical training required to practice medicine. The graduates, all alumni of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College in Lahore, filed a […]
Pakistan court blocks expulsion of Afghan medical college students
"The Lahore High Court has extended the stay order preventing the expulsion of over a hundred Afghan medical students from medical colleges until the next hearing," a Lahore court decision seen by AFP said. The judge, Justice Khalid Ishaq, did not fix a date for the next hearing. A similar petition has already been rejected by a court in Balochistan province, while another is underway in Sindh. Earlier this month, the Pakistan Medical and Dental…
In early September, the Pakistan Council of Physicians and Dentists (PMDC) reminded faculties that according to it "national guidelines", "Afghan students enrolled in medical or dental studies must return to Afghanistan", giving them a few days to exclude them from university under penalty. A measure deemed "arbitrariness and discrimination" by Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch called on the Pakistani authorities to "cancell this decisio…
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