LHC extends stay on PMDC order against Afghan students

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday extended the suspension of a Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) directive requiring Afghan medical students enrolled in Pakistani institutions to return to Afghanistan.

Justice Khalid Ishaq allowed the suspension to continue after lawyers representing the PMDC and the University of Health Sciences requested additional time to submit their written responses to petitions challenging the council’s directive.

The PMDC had issued the order on September 1, directing Afghan medical students studying in Pakistani medical colleges to return to Afghanistan. The directive also prevented medical and dental institutions from admitting or placing Afghan students during the current academic session.

Thirteen Afghan students studying at different medical institutions in Lahore subsequently approached the high court on September 10. The petitioners include students enrolled at King Edward Medical University, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences.

At the previous hearing on September 11, Justice Ishaq had directed the PMDC, Ministry of Health and vice chancellors of the relevant medical universities and colleges to submit their replies.

During Friday’s proceedings, counsels for the PMDC and UHS sought more time to file their responses. The court accepted their requests and adjourned the hearing to a date to be announced later.

The court also considered a separate petition filed by five Afghan medical graduates. The graduates said they had completed their five-year MBBS programme during the 2021-2026 academic session under the Higher Education Commission’s Allama Iqbal Scholarship programme.

They maintained that their applications for PMDC registration had remained pending for several months. According to the petitioners, the absence of registration prevented them from starting the mandatory one-year house job required for medical practice, leaving their professional careers uncertain despite completing their degrees.

The graduates argued that PMDC regulations issued in 2025 entitled graduating students to house-job placements at affiliated teaching hospitals. They also contended that the PMDC Act of 2022 did not give the council authority to order the deportation of Afghan medical graduates.

The court clubbed the graduates’ petition with the earlier petitions filed on September 10.

During the hearing, Justice Ishaq questioned Advocate Asad Jamal, who represented the graduates, about their claim to a house job as a legal right in view of Pakistan’s prevailing foreign policy. The judge also asked why the graduates sought to remain in Pakistan after completing their MBBS programmes.

Advocate Jamal argued that the graduates had a legitimate expectation of being allowed to complete their house jobs after fulfilling all academic requirements.

Justice Ishaq directed the lawyer to satisfy the court regarding the maintainability of the petitions, particularly in light of the country’s current foreign policy.

A significant number of Afghan medical students were present at the court during the proceedings.

The legal dispute comes amid Pakistan’s broader repatriation and deportation drive involving Afghan nationals. Millions of Afghans have lived in Pakistan over the decades after fleeing conflict and instability in their country.

Pakistan intensified its repatriation campaign in 2023 and subsequently expanded measures against Afghans without valid residency documents. According to government officials, more than 1.15 million Afghan nationals were deported or repatriated from Pakistan in 2025.

The figures presented before a Senate committee included registered Afghan refugees, Afghan Citizen Card holders, undocumented individuals and those who returned voluntarily.