LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday suspended the operation of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) directives ordering Afghan medical students to return to their country.
Justice Khalid Ishaq passed the order while hearing a set of petitions filed by 13 Afghan students enrolled at different 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.
The petitions were filed after the PMDC issued a notification on Sept 1 directing Afghan medical students enrolled in Pakistani colleges ‘to return to Afghanistan’. The notification also barred medical and dental colleges from granting admission or placement to Afghan students for the current academic session.
In their petitions, the students referred to the Sept 1 notification as well as a similar directive issued by the PMDC on July 31 and asked the LHC to declare them ‘illegal and unconstitutional’, without lawful authority and void from inception.On Friday, Advocate Asad Jamal, representing the petitioners, contended that the students had been condemned unheard and their rights to education, life and dignity had been violated as the council had transgressed its jurisdiction under the PMDC Act.
He said the petitioners’ fundamental rights should be treated in accordance with law.
Some of the petitioners were represented by Advocate Junaid Jabbar Khan.
On the other hand, the council’s lawyer, Haris Azmat, opposed the suspension of the directives, insisting that it was a matter of ‘national security’.
He also questioned the maintainability of the petitions, arguing that courts could not interfere in policy matters of the government.
He argued that the petitioners could not be allowed to pursue their education in the absence of valid studentvisas.
He said the PMDC’s decision was based on an overall policy decision of the federal government.
However, Justice Ishaq rejected the argument and ordered that the operation of the PMDC directives of Sept 1 and July 31 remain suspended to the extent of the petitioners.
He also directed that no adverse action be taken against the students and that they be allowed to continue their education, sit their examinations and return to their hostels.
The judge also sought replies from the respondents, including the PMDC, the health ministry and the vice chancellors of the medical universities and colleges in question, at the next hearing on Sept 18.
The petitioners, comprising seven women and six men, had filed the petitions through Advocate Jamal on Thursday.
They said they had been removed from their colleges on the PMDC’s instructions, arguing that the council and the medical colleges lacked the legal authority to expel them.
They argued that the PMDC’s powers, as the top regulatory body under the PMDC Act 2023, must be exercised within the bounds of the Constitution and Pakistan’s internationallegal obligations.
They said neither the 2023 Act nor constitutional or international principles permitted the council to act arbitrarily, particularly against students who had already spent years pursuing their medical education in Lahore and other parts of Punjab.
Nilofar Nikzad, one of the petitioners, said she had completed two years of medical studies in Afghanistan before being forced to abandon her education because of Taliban restrictions on women’s access to education.
The petitioners said the sudden and disruptive process had led to their eviction from hostels by their respective colleges, leaving them without accommodation while their academic futures hung in the balance.
They said the PMDC directives had caused significant distress among Afghan medical students studying across Pakistan, prompting them to seek recourse from the courts as a last resort.