PESHAWAR(National Times)- Peshawar High Court has temporarily stopped deportation of 86 Afghan students studying in different public sector medical colleges in the province and allowed them to continue their studies.
A bench consisting of Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Farah Jamshed issued notices to respondents including the federal interior secretary, director general of immigration and passport and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s registrar, seeking their comments in a petition filed jointly by the said 86 students including Selsela Dost and others.
The bench fixed Oct 12 for next hearing of the petition with the direction that in the meanwhile, petitioners should not be deported till the next date of hearing. “They shall be allowed to continue their studies, if there is no other reason for discontinuation of their studies,” the bench directed.
The bench also ordered to club the instant petition with an earlier one filed by another Afghan student Seemen Noori on the same issue.
Allows them to continue studies in medical colleges of KP
The petitioners have sought multiple reliefs from the court, seeking declaration that the two impugned letters issued by PMDC on July 31, 2026, and Sept 1, 2026, insofar as they required the petitioners to discontinue their studies and immediately leave Pakistan, as illegal, arbitrary and of no legal effect.
They sought directives of the court for medical and dental colleges in the province to allow the petitioners to smoothly continue their studies, without interruption merely on account of the impugned PMDC letters/circulars or pendency of their visa-extension applications.
Advocate Waseemuddin Khattak appeared for the petitioners and stated that his clients had been granted admission against Afghan quota seats into various medical and dental colleges across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He stated that petitioners had been studying in different professional years in medical and dental colleges, where after Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) by passing an impugned order had cancelled all admissions of Afghan students across the country.
He pointed out that on Sept 11, 2026, Lahore High Court granted interim relief to several Afghan students studying in its jurisdiction by suspending operation on the impugned order of PMDC.
Mr Khattak said that the petitioners were Afghan nationals, who lawfully entered Pakistan on valid student visas for the purpose of medical education. He stated that they were aggrieved by the unlawful interruption of their ongoing studies pursuant to the impugned letters issued by PMDC.
The counsel argued that his clients had been condemned unheard and their rights to education, life and dignity had been violated as the council had transgressed its jurisdiction under PMDC Act, 2023. He said that petitioners’ fundamental rights should be treated in accordance with law.
He argued that PMDC’s powers under law must be exercised within the bounds of the Constitution and Pakistan’s international legal obligations.
He stated neither the 2023 Act nor constitutional or international principles permitted the council to act arbitrarily, particularly against students, who had already spent years pursuing their medical education in this province.
It merits a mention that the high court has on Sept 23 stopped law enforcement agencies from arresting or deporting 17 Afghan doctors serving in two private hospitals of the provincial capital and allowed them to continue their post graduate training here.
The order was issued in a petition jointly filed by 17 trainee medical officers including Mohammad Idrees and others, challenging the PMDC letters and consequential circulars issued on Sept 2, 2026, by two private hospitals for discontinuation of the petitioners’ duties/FCPS training.
