PESHAWAR: Afghan medical students have been going through hard times amid temporary relief provided to them by provincial high courts against the directives of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council about termination of their admissions.
“Courts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab provinces have issued stay orders against our expulsion from colleges but the response of PMDC is awaited,” Anayatullah Mohmand, focal person for Afghan medical students, told Dawn. He requested the government of Pakistan to allow them to complete their degrees on humanitarian grounds.
Mr Mohmand, a student of MBBS final-year at Khyber Medical College (KMC), Peshawar, said that courts’ orders had brought them temporary relief but the problem would persist till response of PMDC.
He said that examinations of medical and dental colleges were getting nearer but Afghan students lacked preparation owing to the mental trauma caused by the order issued last month, asking the colleges to expel them.
Demand exemption from govt’s expulsion policy; await PMDC response despite courts’ stay orders
PMDC ordered all medical and dental colleges to ensure completion of administrative formalities to facilitate the departure of Afghan students.
More than 1,000 Afghan students, including 350 girls, are studying in different medical and dental colleges across Pakistan.
About 800 of them were selected under the Higher Education Commission’s Allama Iqbal Scholarship programme for which students took entrance test in Afghanistan. There are 12 reserved seats for Afghan students for which candidates are selected through Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) while others, mostly in engineering, BS and other disciplines, are accepted under Pakistan Technical Assistance Programme. Few of them get enrolled through self-finance scheme.
Most of the medical and dental colleges in Punjab and Sindh had already compiled information regarding Afghan students in line with PMDC’s notification that Afghan nationals previously enrolled in medical or dental programmes in Pakistan were required to return to Afghanistan, in accordance with the prevailing policy directions.
The council, regulator of medical education in the country, has asked institutions to take steps for issuance of no objection certificates (NoCs) to support departure of Afghan students.
Khyber Medical University (KMU), the admitting varsity for medical and dental colleges, had started collecting details about Afghan students. Medical and dental colleges have been asked to prepare their detailed marks certificates (DMCs) and NoCs for their impending deportation subject to final verdicts of courts.
Under the plan, they will be sent back to Afghanistan with academic record on the basis of which they can take admission in medical colleges back home.
Afghan students argue that the Pakistan government should let the currently enrolled students continue till graduation, as they have been studying here for the past one to five years under a government programme. They said that they did not object to Pakistan’s policy regarding registration of new students but the old ones should be allowed to complete their studies.
Young Afghan women had dreamt of becoming doctors in Pakistan after a ban was imposed by the Taliban rulers on female education in their homeland. “Constant tension has been haunting us that our careers will be ended,” a girl student told this scribe.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Afghan students hadn’t received expulsion order like Punjab where three public sector colleges had banned them on campuses.
A senior health official said that the matter pertained to national security. He said that souaring relations between the two countries were the prime reason to send Afghan students back. According to him, PMDC is taking time in replies to courts as the matter is of national security and requires the version of interior ministry.
Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2026
