LHC suspends PMDC’s repatriation orders for Afghan medical students
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has suspended the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) orders requiring Afghan medical students to return to Afghanistan. The court also allowed the students to continue their education.
Court blocks PMDC directives
Justice Khalid Ishaq issued the order while hearing petitions filed by 13 Afghan medical students studying at different institutions in Lahore. The students include those enrolled at King Edward Medical University, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences.
The students approached the court after the PMDC issued a September 1 notification directing Afghan medical students “to return to Afghanistan”. The notification also stopped medical and dental colleges from admitting or placing Afghan students during the current academic session.
Students challenge return orders
The students also challenged a similar PMDC directive issued on July 31. They asked the LHC to declare both orders “illegal and unconstitutional” and without lawful authority.
Their lawyer, Advocate Asad Jamal, argued that the students were removed from their studies without being given a proper hearing. He said their rights to education, life and dignity had been affected and that the PMDC had exceeded its legal powers.
LHC allows students to continue studies
PMDC lawyer Haris Azmat opposed the suspension and argued that the matter involved national security. Justice Ishaq rejected the argument and suspended the operation of both the July 31 and September 1 directives.
The judge ordered that the Afghan students be allowed to continue their education, appear in examinations and return to their hostels. The court also sought replies from the PMDC, the health ministry and heads of the concerned medical universities and colleges.
Students cite education and legal rights
The 13 petitioners include seven women and six men. They said they had been removed from their colleges and hostels on the PMDC’s instructions, leaving their education and accommodation uncertain.
The students argued that the PMDC, as Pakistan’s main medical regulatory body under the PMDC Act 2023, must exercise its powers according to the Constitution and international legal obligations. They said the law did not allow arbitrary action against students who had already spent years studying medicine in Pakistan.
Nilofar Nikzad, one of the petitioners, said she had completed two years of medical studies in Afghanistan before leaving her education because of restrictions on women’s education under the Taliban. Several petitioners are also studying in Pakistan under scholarships linked to the Higher Education Commission’s Allama Iqbal Scholarship Programme.
The students said the sudden action had caused serious distress among Afghan medical students across Pakistan. They turned to the courts after being removed from hostels and facing uncertainty about their academic futures.
Next hearing set for September 18
The LHC has asked the concerned authorities to submit their responses at the next hearing. The court will hear the case again on September 18.
The dispute comes amid continuing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. A health ministry official had earlier said that an “in principle” decision had been made to send Afghan students studying at Pakistani medical universities back to Afghanistan because of the tensions between the two countries.
The LHC’s order gives temporary relief to the Afghan medical students. They can continue their studies while the court examines whether the PMDC directives were legally valid.
The case also raises questions about the rights of foreign students already studying in Pakistan. The next hearing could provide more clarity on their future and the government’s policy.
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