In Pakistan, 13 Afghan medical students challenge order to return
In Lahore, Pakistan, 13 Afghan medical students filed petitions with the Lahore High Court challenging an order by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) requiring them to return to Afghanistan. The petitioners include seven women and six men who studied at several medical institutions in the city.
As Dawn reports, the students from King Edward Medical University, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College, and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences submitted the petitions through lawyer Asad Jamal. They said they had been expelled from their institutions on PMDC's instructions.
Students' demands
The petitioners argue that the PMDC and the educational institutions had no legal authority to expel them. They ask the court to declare two council orders, dated July 31 and September 1, unlawful and unconstitutional, and void from the moment they were issued.
The petitions state that the PMDC's powers must be exercised in accordance with Pakistan's Constitution and the country's international obligations. The students also said that the challenged decisions are discriminatory against women and other Afghan students residing in Pakistan.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Many petitioners are recipients of scholarships under the Allama Iqbal programme, supported by Pakistan's Higher Education Commission. One of the petitioners, Nilofar Nikzad, said she studied medicine in Afghanistan for two years but was forced to discontinue her education because of Taliban restrictions on women's access to education.
PMDC order
On September 1, the PMDC issued a notice requiring Afghan students at Pakistan's medical institutions to return to Afghanistan. The document also barred medical and dental colleges from admitting Afghan students or offering them places in the current academic year.
The petitioners said that the sudden implementation of these directives resulted in their eviction from dormitories, leaving them without housing. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the PMDC decision could affect about 100 Afghan medical and dental students in Lahore alone, including an estimated 20 to 40 women.
The petitions have not yet been scheduled for hearing by the Lahore High Court registry.
