LHC bars Punjab medical colleges from expelling Afghan students

The Lahore High Court (LHC) barred on Friday medical colleges across Punjab from expelling Afghan medical students or cancelling their examinations, after the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) directed enrolled Afghan students to return to Afghanistan.

Justice Khalid Ishaq issued the order while hearing petitions filed by more than 30 Afghan students against their expulsion from medical colleges in Pakistan.

During the hearing, the PMDC’s lawyer told the court that the Afghan students did not have valid visas.

Justice Ishaq questioned how the students had been issued education visas when they were admitted to medical colleges.“You have wasted four years of their lives and are now sending them back,” the judge said.

The PMDC lawyer said the council had issued the directive following a state order.

Justice Ishaq questioned why the students had not been given an opportunity to be heard before the decision was implemented.

The PMDC lawyer argued that it was a global principle that people could not stay in a country without a valid visa.

The judge said Afghan students could be sent back, but only after they completed their medical education.

Referring to the United States, Justice Ishaq said people could not stay there without valid visas but added that courts in the US were independent and courts in Pakistan were independent as well.

The PMDC lawyer said the matter involved state security. Justice Ishaq rejected the argument, saying there was no state security issue involved.

The court ordered that no medical college in Punjab should expel any Afghan student or cancel their examination papers.

The court adjourned further proceedings until Sept. 18.

How did it begin?

The order follows a PMDC directive issued on Wednesday requiring Afghan medical and dental students already enrolled in Pakistani institutions to return to Afghanistan.

The council directed medical colleges to complete the necessary administrative formalities for their return and instructed relevant authorities to issue the required no-objection certificates.

The PMDC also barred Afghan nationals from admission to medical and dental programmes during the current academic session and prohibited their placement, transfer, or migration to medical and dental institutions.

The council instructed medical and dental institutions not to provide any form of facilitation to Afghan nationals and directed them to comply with its previous instructions. Institutions that had not submitted compliance reports were given three days to provide complete details.

The PMDC warned that institutions failing to comply, withholding information or providing unauthorised facilitation could face action under the PMDC Act 2022.

The council said its Sept. 1 letter concerning Afghan students reiterated instructions issued on July 31.

Decision sparks criticism

The decision has drawn criticism from civil society and rights organisations.

Former ambassador Mansoor Ahmad Khan urged the PMDC to reconsider the decision on humanitarian grounds and in view of relations between the peoples of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Amnesty International South Asia described the decision as “patently discriminatory and arbitrary in nature”, saying its consequences would be particularly severe for female Afghan students.

The organisation said many Afghan women had already been denied access to higher education in Afghanistan amid what it described as the Taliban’s ongoing gender persecution.

Amnesty said many students had spent years studying medicine and could have little prospect of resuming their education elsewhere if forced to return.

It urged Pakistani authorities to adopt a humane and practical solution allowing Afghan students, including women and girls, to complete their education.

Lawyer Moniza Kakar also criticised the decision, describing the forced return of Afghan medical students as “cruel and deeply unjust”.

She said the decision could permanently destroy female students’ hopes of becoming doctors and urged the PMDC to withdraw it and allow them to complete their degrees.