San Francisco Frontiers - Afghan medical students in Pakistan hope court stops college expulsions

In a letter to academic institutes earlier this month, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) said no "form of facilitation of Afghan nationals is permitted for the current academic session".

It added: "Afghans previously enrolled in medical or dental programs in Pakistan are required to return to Afghanistan."

The letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP, did not say on whose authority the medical council was acting, but said: "The matter is of highest priority and relates to national policy directions."

Relations between neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan have plummeted since the Taliban government's return to power in Kabul in 2021, and escalated into weeks of war earlier this year.

More than 2.5 million Afghans -- many who spent decades living as refugees in Pakistan -- have been expelled or left voluntarily over the past three years, according to UN data, as part of a deportation drive by Islamabad.

Human Rights Watch urged authorities to reverse the PMDC order, highlighting the plight of women who are banned from studying in Afghanistan.

Amnesty International slammed the move as "discriminatory and arbitrary".

The PMDC announcement has sparked multiple court petitions, with a hearing in Punjab's provincial capital Lahore on Friday expected to determine the fate of several dozen students.

A similar petition was rejected by a court in Balochistan province, while another is underway in Sindh.

Among the Lahore petitioners is a 23-year-old who was just days away from finishing her second-year studies when she was told she must "go back and leave everything".

A judge suspended the expulsion order at the provincial level on September 11, but the student said her records have already been expunged from the university's online platform.

- 'Never give up' -

The undergraduate, who requested anonymity for security reasons, was forced to end her medical studies in Afghanistan after Taliban authorities banned women from universities.

She said she was one of about 20 Afghan women, out of 30,000 applicants, to win a scholarship in Pakistan.

"I will never give up... I learned from this journey that sadness doesn't bring anything," she told an AFP journalist in Kabul by phone.

Asad Jamal, one of several lawyers representing the students in Lahore, criticised the PMDC orders which he said failed to provide medics with "any opportunity to be heard".

The PMDC did not respond to AFP's request for comment.

Jamal said even if the students lose their Lahore petition, the case could still be taken to Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court.

Mubin Ulfati, a final-year student in Lahore, had just returned from a hospital shift when he was given 24 hours to leave the country.

"We are medical students; we know how to manage shocking news. But this wasn't something very manageable," the 24-year-old told AFP.

"It was like the death of my hopes to become a doctor," he told AFP.

"We are clearly victims" of a political situation.

Some Afghan medics had been deported even before the PMDC order, such as a fourth-year student who tried unsuccessfully for more than a year to renew his visa.

"We are only students. We are not political people," said the medic, who was specialising in ophthalmology and requested anonymity.

The 33-year-old was pulled out of the operating theatre and expelled within two days.

"Please, let us finish our studies," he said. "We will finish, and we will go back to our country."

W.Carter--SFF