The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has dismissed a petition filed by Afghan students seeking protection from being barred from the admission process at Khyber Medical University (KMU), ordering the petitioners to submit an Afghan passport, Pakistani visa and other necessary documents within a month.
The court ruled that if the students fail to provide the required documents within the given time frame, the university administration will be empowered to take a decision on their admission.
The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Mudassar Ameer. Advocate Mian Zakir Hussain appeared for the petitioner while advocate Abdul Munim Khan represented the KMU administration.
The petitioners’ counsel informed the court that his clients are Afghan nationals who had applied for admission to the MBBS program at Khyber Medical College. However, the college’s administration required the submission of passports and visas at an early stage, despite the new admission rules and policy stating that foreign nationals must submit such documents only after the issuance of the final merit list.
He argued that the administration’s demand prior to the release of the final merit list was illegal, especially since border crossings were currently closed and all forms of movement suspended. The petitioners had requested the college to allow the submission of passports and other documents after the publication of the final merit list, but the administration rejected their request.
Representing KMU, its legal adviser Abdul Munim Khan told the court that the seats in question were reserved for Afghan citizens, not Afghan refugees. He maintained that the petitioners neither held Afghan citizenship nor valid Afghan passports and therefore could not apply without proper documentation, including a valid visa.
He further argued that since the petitioner had already studied in Pakistan and lacked concrete proof of Afghan citizenship, the university was compelled to exclude her from the admission process. However, he added that if the petitioner obtained an Afghan passport and valid visa and applied again, she could be included in the process.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court granted one month to the petitioners to submit all necessary documents and disposed of the writ petition accordingly.
