The government of Pakistan has instructed the country’s medical universities to immediately expel Afghanistan citizen students from medical programs. In official letters issued by the government of Pakistan to several medical students studying from the first to the fifth year, only twenty-four hours have been given for them to leave the country. Another letter emphasizes that this matter is of the highest importance and is linked to Pakistan’s “national policy.” Meanwhile, several students studying medicine in Pakistan say that they are enrolled at various academic levels across the country and traveled to Pakistan through government scholarships, and are now facing forced and collective expulsion to Afghanistan. These students are asking the government of Pakistan to ensure that Islamabad’s disputes with the Taliban should not obstruct the continuation of their studies. According to them, they have no connection to the Taliban or the group’s policies, and they are calling on the government of Pakistan to reconsider this decision.
In official letters issued by Pakistani educational institutions, some students have been given as little as twenty-four hours to leave the country. In one of these letters, issued by Fatima Jinnah Medical University, a list of twenty-one Afghanistan citizen students studying medicine from the first to the fifth year at the university has been included.
This letter cites a letter from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) dated September 1, 2026, and instructs officials to complete all administrative procedures related to the discharge of these students through the office of the university president within twenty-four hours. The letter concludes by emphasizing the immediate and precise implementation of this order.
In another letter issued by the University of Health Sciences Lahore on September 7, 2026, officials of medical and dental institutions have been asked to implement the directives of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) regarding the status of Afghanistan citizens at these institutions. This letter, titled “Reiteration of Instructions Regarding the Status of Afghanistan Nationals Enrolled in Medical and Dental Institutions,” cites two letters from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council dated July 31 and September 1, 2026.
According to this letter, until further notice, no admission, placement, transfer, relocation, academic migration, or any other facilities will be permitted for Afghanistan nationals in the current academic year. The letter emphasizes that Afghanistan nationals who had previously enrolled in medical or dental programs in Pakistan are, in accordance with current instructions, required to return to Afghanistan. Relevant institutions have also been asked to complete all necessary administrative formalities, including the issuance of a No Objection Certificate (NOC) and providing the necessary facilities for the departure of these students.
The University of Health Sciences Lahore has asked relevant institutions to send a report on the measures taken, along with full details, to the university after implementing the directives of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, so that decisions on further action can be made based on existing policies. The letter emphasizes that this matter is of the highest importance and is linked to Pakistan’s “national policy.” Institutions have therefore been asked to send a report on the implementation of this order within twenty-four hours of the letter’s issuance, both by mail and by email, to the University of Health Sciences Lahore.
Meanwhile, a number of these students, speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, say they were admitted to universities in the country under the Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarship, which is administered by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC). They say that nearly a thousand students from Afghanistan, including both young women and men, are currently studying across Pakistan. These students emphasize that many of them are in their final year of study, with only a few months remaining before their final examinations and graduation.
These students say they are facing extremely worrying and uncertain conditions. According to them, the recent directive from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) to the relevant medical institutions and universities has resulted in Afghanistan citizen students being instructed to leave their educational institutions and return to their country, regardless of which year of their studies they are in. According to them, this decision affects students who have only recently begun their studies, students who are in the middle of their studies, and, most importantly, students who are only a few months away from completing their medical education and graduating.
These students add that this situation is painful and devastating for many of them, particularly female students, since before their admission to medical colleges in Pakistan, they had been deprived of education for several years due to circumstances beyond their control. Others had been studying medicine in Afghanistan since 2021, but were subsequently admitted to educational institutions in Pakistan to continue the studies they had been forced to abandon.
The students emphasize that this forced expulsion does not merely mean leaving a college or dormitory, but means losing years of study, financial investment, career opportunities, and their only realistic path to becoming qualified doctors and dentists.
According to them, Pakistan’s warning to leave the country immediately within the coming days has left many students, particularly female students, facing profound uncertainty about their place of residence, safety, education, and future. They point out that what makes this situation more painful is that students appear to have no clear authority to turn to for explanation or assistance.
These students say they have contacted the Taliban embassy in Islamabad and other responsible institutions in Pakistan seeking cooperation, but according to them, these institutions have stated that the matter is outside their authority or falls under the responsibility of another official. According to them, this decision has left nearly a thousand students in a state of uncertainty, without any clear mechanism for objection or reconsideration of this decision, and without any guarantee provided for completing their education and obtaining the documents for which they were officially admitted and financially supported.
The students are asking the government of Pakistan to allow them to be heard and not to allow them to become victims of policies in which they play no role, and from whose consequences they themselves have suffered. They are asking the government of Pakistan to explain on what legal basis students have been required to stop their studies, and why final-year students, who are only a few months away from graduation, have been subjected to exactly the same decision as students who have only recently been admitted.
These students, expressing concern, have asked how they could safely and practically continue their medical education if they return to Afghanistan, and what dangerous consequences they might face. They have also asked why such a short deadline has been set for vacating the dormitories, and why they have not even been allowed to gather their books and personal belongings. They have emphasized that they are demanding transparency, fair treatment, and a humane solution so that students who have spent years of their lives pursuing medical education can complete their studies and receive their academic credentials.
One female student, who is studying medicine in Pakistan through an official scholarship from the government of Pakistan, says that they waited four years to receive a scholarship that had been promised by the government of Pakistan, but now they do not understand why, after enduring so much suffering and hardship and passing through the “Seven Labors of Rostam,” they should once again be sent back to the “black hell” that the Taliban have drawn for them.
This student says: “We have no connection to the Taliban or the group’s policies, and we ask Pakistan not to make us victims of Taliban policies. We ourselves are victims of Taliban policies, and this decision is painful and devastating for us. We hope the government of Pakistan will reconsider this matter.”
Another student, who does not want her name mentioned in this report, says: “We girls, for whom a small ray of hope had only just opened after four years, are about to be forgotten overnight and sent back to a country in which we see no hope even for the next hundred years, a place where women and girls are treated like slaves and are forced to remain illiterate for the rest of their lives and submit to marriage.” According to her, all the students, including the female students, are in a state of complete uncertainty, and the universities concerned have told them that this decision is not within their authority and is a political decision.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
از بورسیه تا اخراج؛ پاکستان نزدیک به هزار دانشجوی پزشکی را به افغانستان بازمیگرداند
