PESHAWAR: The Pesh­awar High Court has temporarily restrai­n­­ed the admission committee for public-sector medical colleges from excluding an Afghan female student from the ongoing admissions process over her inability to produce an Afghan passport and visa.

A bench comprising Ju­­stice Ijaz Anwar and Jus­tice Wiqar Ahmad issued notices to the responden­ts, including the vice chancellor of Khyber Medical Uni­versity and the cha­­ir­­man of the admission committee, seeking their replies to a petition filed by the student, Ruby, an Afg­h­­an refugee holding a Proof of Registration card.

The petitioner has asked the court to declare the requirement to submit a passport and visa before admission as contrary to the admissions policy, illegal and discriminatory.

She has also sought court directives for the respondents to call her for an interview after the final merit list is displayed and, if she secures a place on merit, to grant her admission to the relevant MBBS or BDS programme.

She has also requested the court to restrain the respondents from altering the merit list on the basis of her failure to produce a passport and visa at this stage. The bench fixed Dec 30 for the next hearing.

Advocate Mian Zakir Hussain appeared for the petitioner and told the court that his client was an Afghan national regis­te­r­­ed with the Commis­sio­n­erate of Afghan Refu­ge­­es along with her family.

He said his client had completed her SSC and HSSC and then appeared in the MDCAT, securing good marks.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2025