Pakistan orders medical colleges to expel Afghan students amid Kabul tensions

Pakistan has ordered medical and dental institutions to expel Afghan students and halt fresh admissions. The move sharpens pressure on Afghans as ties with Kabul worsen and deportations intensify.

In Short

• Foreign Office said valid Afghan student visa extensions remain available under rules
• King Edward Medical University gave 22 Afghan students just 24 hours
• The directive applies only to Afghan nationals, excluding other international students

Pakistan has ordered medical institutions across the country to expel Afghan students and stop fresh admissions amid worsening ties between Islamabad and Kabul, a senior government official said on Wednesday. The move could affect hundreds of Afghan students enrolled in undergraduate medical and dental courses in Pakistan, including some who are close to graduating.

Even as the order was issued to medical and dental institutions, Pakistan's Foreign Office said Afghan students with valid travel and residency documents could continue to seek visa extensions under existing rules. The latest step comes against the backdrop of strained relations between the two neighbours and Pakistan's wider drive against undocumented foreigners.

In a directive to medical and dental institutions, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council barred them from granting admission or placement to Afghan students in the current academic session, a senior health ministry official said. Afghan students already enrolled in medical and dental programmes have also been told to return to Afghanistan, he said.

The official said the decision was taken in view of deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and applied only to Afghan nationals, not students from other countries.

Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan told the Dawn newspaper that, under Pakistan's Illegal Foreigner Repatriation Plan, the stay of any foreign national without a valid passport and visa was illegal and such individuals were liable to deportation. "However, Pakistani authorities are continuing to process visa extension applications from Afghan students in accordance with our existing policy, rules and regulations," he said.

King Edward Medical University in Lahore became the first public-sector institution to implement the order, according to a university official. "Twenty-two Afghan students are currently studying at KEMU, and they have been given 24 hours to complete the necessary legal and administrative formalities," the official told PTI.

The development comes amid strained relations between Islamabad and Kabul over Pakistan's allegations that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan operates from sanctuaries on Afghan soil, a charge denied by the Taliban administration. Tensions rose further after a series of explosions in Kabul on October 9 last year and subsequent cross-border exchanges that caused casualties and damage on both sides.

Millions of Afghans have sought refuge in Pakistan over several decades, fleeing successive conflicts, including hundreds of thousands who entered the country after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan launched a large-scale deportation drive against undocumented foreigners in 2023 and renewed it in April last year after cancelling hundreds of thousands of residence permits held by Afghan nationals. In June, the interior ministry directed authorities to arrest Afghan nationals found living in Pakistan without valid visas from July 10.

The order to expel Afghan medical students and stop new admissions adds to the pressure on Afghan nationals in Pakistan, where more than one million Afghan nationals were deported last year alone.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends