PHC halts deportation of 86 Afghan medical students

PHC halts deportation of 86 Afghan medical students

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has temporarily barred the deportation of 86 Afghan students enrolled in public-sector medical and dental colleges across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, allowing them to continue their studies until the next hearing.

A division bench comprising Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Farah Jamshed issued notices to the federal interior secretary, director general of immigration and passports, and registrar of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), seeking their responses to a petition filed by the students, including Selsela Dost and others.

The court fixed October 12 for the next hearing and directed that the petitioners should not be deported before then. It also ordered that they be allowed to continue their studies if there was no other legal or academic reason requiring their discontinuation.

The students have challenged two PMDC letters issued on July 31 and September 1, 2026. They argued that the letters unlawfully required them to discontinue their medical and dental education and leave Pakistan immediately.

Through their petition, the students also requested the court to direct medical and dental colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to allow them to continue their education without interruption because of the PMDC directives or delays in processing their visa-extension applications.

Advocate Waseemuddin Khattak, representing the petitioners, told the court that the students had secured admission to medical and dental colleges under the Afghan quota and were currently studying in different professional years.

He argued that the PMDC’s decision to cancel admissions of Afghan students across the country had disrupted their ongoing education.

The counsel also referred to an interim order issued by the Lahore High Court on September 11, under which relief was granted to several Afghan students studying in Punjab.

According to Khattak, the petitioners had entered Pakistan legally on valid student visas to pursue medical education and had already spent several years studying in the country.

He contended that the students had not received an adequate opportunity to present their case before the PMDC decision and that the action affected their constitutional rights to education, life and dignity.

The lawyer further argued that the PMDC must exercise its authority within the limits prescribed by the PMDC Act, 2023, the Constitution and Pakistan’s international obligations.

He maintained that neither the law nor constitutional principles authorised the council to take arbitrary action against students who had already progressed through several years of professional education.

The PHC will hear the matter again on October 12 after receiving responses from the relevant federal authorities and the PMDC.