LHC Bars Punjab Medical Colleges from Expelling Afghan Students

The Lahore High Court has temporarily stopped medical colleges in Punjab from expelling Afghan medical students or cancelling their examinations after petitions challenged Pakistan Medical and Dental Council directives requiring enrolled Afghan students to return to Afghanistan.

Justice Khalid Ishaq issued the interim relief while hearing petitions from Afghan students affected by PMDC instructions issued on July 31 and September 1. The case now places the future of foreign medical students at the intersection of education rights, immigration rules and Pakistan's broader policy toward Afghan nationals.

What the court ordered

The court directed that affected Afghan medical students should not be removed from their colleges while the petitions are pending. Reporting from Geo News and Hum English said the order also bars colleges from cancelling the students' examinations.

Justice Ishaq adjourned further proceedings until September 18 and sought responses from the PMDC, the Ministry of National Health Services and relevant medical institutions. The court's interim order gives the students immediate protection, but it does not finally decide the legality of the PMDC directives.

The petitions were brought after Afghan students said they had been removed from classes and hostels following PMDC instructions. They asked the court to declare the directives illegal, unconstitutional and without lawful authority.

Who filed the petitions

Dawn reported that 13 Afghan medical students initially filed petitions before the Lahore High Court. They included seven women and six men enrolled at institutions in Lahore, including King Edward Medical University, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College, and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences.

Later reporting said petitions from more than 30 Afghan students were before the court. The students argued that they had already invested years in medical education in Pakistan and that sudden removal would cause serious academic and humanitarian harm.

Some petitioners are linked to the Higher Education Commission's Allama Iqbal Scholarship Programme. That detail matters because it means at least some students came to Pakistan under an official education framework rather than through informal arrangements.

What PMDC directed

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council's September 1 letter directed medical and dental colleges to require Afghan nationals already enrolled in Pakistani programmes to return to Afghanistan. The letter also barred new admissions, placements, transfers and migration of Afghan nationals into medical and dental institutions during the current academic session.

The Current reported that the PMDC letter described the matter as tied to national policy directives and told institutions to complete administrative formalities, including no-objection certificates, for affected students.

King Edward Medical University was among the institutions that acted on the directive. Reports said Afghan MBBS students were asked to report for departure-related formalities, including some in final-year classes.

Arguments before the court

The petitioners' counsel, Advocate Asad Jamal, argued that PMDC had exceeded its authority and that students were affected without being given a chance to be heard. The petitions said PMDC's powers must be exercised within the Constitution, the PMDC Act and Pakistan's international obligations.

PMDC's lawyer argued that the matter involved national policy and documentation issues. According to Geo News, the council's counsel told the court that the Afghan students did not have the required documents and referred to the principle that foreign nationals cannot stay without valid visas.

Justice Ishaq questioned how students had been issued education visas when admitted and why years of study were being disrupted. Hum News reported that the judge criticised the lack of hearing before removal and said the students could be sent back after completing their medical education.

Education and humanitarian concerns

The case has drawn attention because medical education is long, expensive and highly structured. A student removed in the middle of an MBBS programme can lose years of study, clinical training and examination progress.

The issue is especially sensitive for Afghan women. The Dawn report quoted one petitioner, Nilofar Nikzad, as saying she had already completed two years of medical studies in Afghanistan before being forced to abandon education there because of Taliban restrictions on women's access to education.

Human rights groups have warned that a blanket approach could turn an education policy dispute into a humanitarian crisis. The concern is not only admission policy going forward, but what happens to students already enrolled and close to completing professional degrees.

Policy backdrop

The PMDC directive comes amid strained Pakistan-Afghanistan relations and Islamabad's continuing campaign against undocumented foreign nationals. Pakistan says foreign nationals without valid documents are liable to removal under its repatriation policy.

At the same time, the Foreign Office has said there is no blanket government ban on all Afghan students in Pakistan. Officials have indicated that students in valid degree programmes with valid visas may continue their education, while individual cases involving registration or documents are being referred to the relevant regulators.

That leaves the court to examine whether the PMDC directive was legally justified, whether it treated validly enrolled students fairly, and whether education rights and due process were respected.

What happens next

The next hearing on September 18 will be important because the court has asked the authorities and institutions to explain the legal basis for the directives. Until then, affected students have temporary protection from expulsion and exam cancellation.

The court may eventually need to decide whether PMDC can impose a broad return requirement on already enrolled Afghan medical students, or whether the regulator must handle such cases individually based on visa status, admission history and due process.

For now, the Lahore High Court's interim order gives Afghan medical students breathing room. It does not end the dispute, but it prevents immediate academic disruption while the legal questions are tested in court.