Kabul, Afghanistan – In a significant judicial move to address controversial rulings, the Lahore High Court has taken urgent legal action in response to directives from the Pakistan Medical Council requiring Afghan medical students to return to their home country. Thirteen Afghan medical students—comprising seven women and six men—filed formal petitions with the court on Thursday through their lawyer, Asad Jamal. They challenged the regulatory directives that mandated their forced return to Afghanistan. The students were enrolled in prominent academic institutions in Lahore and across the Punjab province, including King Edward Medical University, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Medical and Dental College, and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences.
In their legal arguments, the petitioners asserted that the Pakistan Medical Council—the supreme regulatory body under the 2023 Act—and the relevant medical colleges completely lacked the legal and constitutional authority to dismiss them. They maintained that the Council’s powers must be exercised within the confines of the Constitution and Pakistan’s international obligations. Furthermore, they denounced what they described as arbitrary actions taken against students who had invested years and strenuous effort in their medical education within Pakistan.
The Paradoxes of Scholarships and the Tragedy of Sudden Expulsion
This issue takes on complex humanitarian dimensions, given that many of the complaining students hold official scholarships under the “Allama Iqbal Scholarship Program,” sponsored by Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission. In July 2025, the Commission had hosted an official reception to welcome approximately 350 Afghan students arriving to pursue their studies in the country. One of the petitioners, Nilofar Nikzad, explained that she had completed two years of medical studies in Afghanistan before being forced to leave her homeland due to the Taliban’s strict restrictions on women’s education. However, she subsequently faced eviction from student housing in Lahore, leaving her homeless and in a state of severe psychological and financial distress.
The protesting students asked the court to strike down the Medical Council’s directives issued on July 31 and September 1, declaring them “illegal, unconstitutional, and void ab initio.” They also emphasized that the decisions entail blatant discrimination against women and Afghan students. Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court registrar’s office has not yet scheduled an official date for the hearing.
Government justifications and widespread human rights warnings
This escalation follows a notice issued on September 1 by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, requiring Afghan students to return home and barring colleges from admitting them for the current academic year. A health ministry official reported an “in principle” decision to deport them, citing ongoing political tensions between Islamabad and Kabul. Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan explained to the *Dawn* newspaper that any foreigner lacking valid documentation and a visa is subject to deportation under the plan to repatriate illegal foreign nationals.
