The Peshawar High Court has temporarily suspended a decision by Pakistan’s medical and dental regulator to expel 14 Afghan students from medical and dental universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, ordering government authorities to provide a formal response within 14 days.
As reported by IRAF, the court’s interim order allows the students to continue their studies pending the next hearing, marking the latest judicial intervention in a case that has also been challenged before courts in Lahore and Islamabad.
The 14 students were admitted to public and private universities under a special quota for Afghan nationals. They say their admission was formally approved by Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission and was accompanied by the issuance of no-objection certificates.
During the hearing, the students’ lawyer argued that the decision by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council had been made without giving the students an opportunity to defend themselves and was contrary to constitutional principles.
The lawyer also argued that Pakistan is bound by its international commitments to uphold migrants’ educational rights and cannot, after several years of study, declare the students’ legally approved admissions invalid.
Under the interim order, the students will be allowed to continue their education until the next hearing. Government authorities have been given 14 days to submit their written responses. The next hearing has been scheduled for October 12.
Cases Before Courts in Lahore and Islamabad
The case involving Afghan medical students in Pakistan has been taken up by courts in several cities in recent weeks.
The Lahore High Court has also issued several interim orders halting the expulsion of Afghan students and has asked educational authorities to explain how students who had spent years studying at established universities were granted student visas, only for their admissions to later be described as “illegal.”
In Islamabad, civil rights lawyers and legal organizations have called for the expulsion process to be halted altogether, citing Pakistan’s domestic laws and international commitments.
They have warned that the decision could leave hundreds of Afghan students facing disruption to their education and uncertainty over their future.
