KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Amnesty International has condemned the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council order requiring Afghan medical and dental students enrolled in Pakistani institutions to leave the country, calling the decision “patently arbitrary and discriminatory.”
In a statement posted on X, the international rights organization said the consequences of the decision would be particularly severe for female students, many of whom have already been denied access to higher education in Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls.
Amnesty noted that many students have spent years studying medicine and now face abrupt disruption of their education, with limited options to continue elsewhere.
The organization urged Pakistani authorities to uphold the right to education without discrimination based on national origin and adopt a “humane and practical solution” allowing Afghan students, including women and girls, to complete their degrees.
“Pakistan has obligations under international human rights law to uphold the right to education without discrimination on the basis of national origin,” Amnesty said.
The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), in a directive issued on Sept. 1, ordered all Afghan medical and dental students enrolled at Pakistani institutions to leave the country. It also ordered institutions to suspend the enrollment of new Afghan students until further notice.
The directive said no new admissions, placements, transfers, migration or other educational facilities would be permitted for Afghan nationals during the current academic session until further orders.
Medical institutions have been told to ensure full compliance with the regulatory order and to coordinate with relevant government authorities where required. The decision is expected to have its greatest impact on students nearing graduation, particularly those in the final year of the MBBS program.
According to Pakistani media reports, King Edward Medical University in Lahore is among the first public universities to act on the directive, expelling around 20 Afghan MBBS students, including six in their final year.
Pakistani politicians, including former ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan and former member of parliament Bushra Gohar, have also criticized the move and called on authorities to reconsider it on humanitarian grounds.
“A more humane and practical approach can be to allow the students to complete their respective degrees and arrange their return to Afghanistan as soon as they complete their education,” Khan wrote on X.
“Expelling students in the final year of completing their degrees is inhuman, cruel and unconscionable,” Gohar wrote on X, urging Pakistani authorities to immediately reconsider the decision and protect the students’ right to finish their education.
The latest directive comes as Pakistan has intensified its campaign to repatriate Afghan nationals amid a sharp deterioration in relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities. According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 2.6 million Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan between September 2023 and July 31, 2026.
Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of harboring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan members and allowing them to plan and launch attacks from Afghan territory. The Taliban rejects the claims, insisting that Pakistan’s security challenges are an internal matter and that no such groups operate from Afghan soil.
