Court keeps temporary protection in place
The Lahore High Court extended an order on September 18 preventing the expulsion of more than 100 Afghan medical students from colleges in Pakistan's Punjab province. Justice Khalid Ishaq did not set a date for the next hearing, leaving the students protected for now while their legal challenge continues.
The dispute follows a directive from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council to universities and colleges. In a letter issued earlier in September, the regulator said Afghan nationals could not receive institutional support during the current academic session and that those already enrolled in medical or dental programmes had to return to Afghanistan. The document described the instruction as a national-policy matter but did not identify the authority behind it.
The legal position differs across Pakistan. A comparable petition was rejected in Balochistan, while another case is proceeding in Sindh. In Punjab, a judge first suspended the expulsion instruction on September 11 before the High Court extended that protection a week later.
Students describe interrupted training
The order has placed students at different stages of medical training in uncertainty. One final-year student said he had previously been given 24 hours to leave Pakistan after returning from a hospital shift. Another petitioner, a 23-year-old Afghan woman, had been close to completing her second year when she was told to depart. She said her university records had already disappeared from its online system despite the court proceedings.
Her case also illustrates the limited alternatives available to Afghan women. She had stopped studying medicine in Afghanistan after Taliban authorities barred women from universities, then won one of a small number of Pakistani scholarships. Returning would prevent her from continuing the same course of study.
Lawyers for the Lahore petitioners argue that the regulator acted without giving students an opportunity to be heard. They say an adverse decision could still be challenged before Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court. The medical council did not respond to AFP's request for comment.
Wider pressure on Afghans in Pakistan
The education dispute comes amid sharply deteriorated relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. More than 2.5 million Afghans have left Pakistan or been expelled over the past three years, according to United Nations data cited by AFP, as Islamabad has pursued a broad deportation campaign. Some medical students had already faced visa problems and removal before the council issued its latest instruction.
Human Rights Watch called for the medical directive to be reversed, with particular concern for women unable to study in Afghanistan. Amnesty International characterised the measure as discriminatory and arbitrary.
The Lahore ruling does not resolve the underlying case or guarantee that students can complete their degrees. It does, however, prevent immediate expulsions in Punjab while the court considers whether the regulator's instruction can lawfully end their enrolment.
