LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday extended the suspension of a Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) directive requiring Afghan medical students enrolled in Pakistani institutions to return to Afghanistan. The court granted additional time to lawyers representing the PMDC and the University of Health Sciences to submit their written responses. Justice Khalid Ishaq adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed later. The PMDC had issued a notification on September 1 directing Afghan medical students studying at Pakistani medical colleges to return to Afghanistan. The notification also barred medical and dental colleges from granting admissions or placements to Afghan students during the current academic session. Thirteen Afghan medical students enrolled at institutions in Lahore, including King Edward Medical University, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences, challenged the directive before the LHC on September 10. During Friday’s proceedings, the court also heard a petition filed by five Afghan medical graduates who completed their five-year MBBS programme during the 2021-2026 session under the Higher Education Commission-administered Allama Iqbal Scholarship. The graduates told the court that their PMDC registration applications had remained undecided for months, preventing them from enrolling in the mandatory one-year house job required to practise medicine. Their counsel, Advocate Asad Jamal, argued that PMDC’s 2025 regulations provided graduating students with a right to a house job placement at their affiliated teaching hospital. He further contended that the PMDC Act of 2022 did not authorize the council to order deportations. Justice Ishaq asked the counsel to explain how the graduates could claim a right to a house job in view of Pakistan’s current foreign policy. The judge also questioned why the graduates wanted to remain in Pakistan after completing their MBBS degrees. Advocate Jamal maintained that the graduates had a legitimate expectation of obtaining house-job placements after completing their medical education. The court directed the counsel to satisfy it regarding the maintainability of the graduates’ petitions in light of Pakistan’s current foreign policy. The petitions of the five graduates were clubbed with those filed by the 13 students on September 10. A large number of Afghan medical students were also present at the court during the hearing. The proceedings come amid Pakistan’s broader policy concerning the repatriation of Afghan nationals. According to official figures cited by a Senate committee, Pakistan deported 1,155,221 Afghan nationals in 2025, including documented, undocumented and voluntary returnees. The UNHCR has also reported an increase in Afghan returns from Pakistan and Iran during 2026.
