Afghan female medical students fear being sent home from Pakistan - BBC News
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#'Complete despair': Afghan female medical students fear being sent home from Pakistan
By Caroline Davies, Pakistan correspondent
Published 8 hours ago
Nooria, which is not her real name, still remembers one of the moments that made her want to be a doctor.
It was back home in a village in Afghanistan, where she was born. A 13-year-old boy there became sick and died because of appendicitis.
"He was completely healthy, but the road was blocked and he died on the way. There are multiple incidents just like this."
"That and the potential I saw in myself, I thought I can be a doctor for them, I can help."
She fears that dream could now be over and that she could be sent back to Afghanistan. That would be the end of any chance at a career for Nooria who, as a woman, is barred from studying or working by Afghanistan's Taliban government.
Earlier this month, Pakistan's Medical and Dental Council - the medical education regulator - issued a letter to all medical and dental colleges across the country saying that students from Afghanistan studying in their colleges must return to their home country. Failure to follow the directive, it said, would be "viewed seriously" and may lead to regulatory action. A temporary stay order from the Lahore High Court stopped students in Punjab, such as Nooria, from being deported immediately until the next hearing, scheduled for Friday. There is no certainty that the stay will continue.
Since 2023, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been deported from Pakistan and over two million have left according to the UN. These numbers increased as the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan dramatically deteriorated in the last year. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of harbouring militant groups, which it denies.
The announcement from the medical council was met with a strong reaction. Amnesty International called the decision "patently discriminatory and arbitrary" and said that "Pakistan has obligations under international human rights law to uphold the right to education without discrimination on the basis of national origin." Several of Pakistan's former envoys to Afghanistan also urged the council to reconsider; one called it "shocking" and "a question of humanity, compassion and Pakistan's own moral responsibility".
The council told the BBC that they can give no further comment while the court case continues, but their lawyer has told the BBC that none of the Afghan students were registered with PMDC. The students say that this is the responsibility of their colleges, not them; a notification issued by the PMDC earlier this year directs colleges to ensure that students are registered.
Image source: AFP via Getty Images
Image caption: Afghan refugees have been packing up and leaving Pakistan in large numbers
The medical and dental students the BBC has spoken to say they do not see how the relationship between the two countries should affect their ability to study.
For Nooria, this stings even more because she says it took a lot for her to get here. She first began studying at Kabul University, but as the Taliban forces approached the city, she left. She was offered what she thought at the time was a lifeline: the opportunity to study medicine in Pakistan on a scholarship. Now a final year student at a medical university in Lahore, she says she has given everything to the course.