The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has dismissed a writ 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 required documents within a month.
The court ruled that if students do not submit the required documents within the stipulated deadline, the university administration would be authorized to make 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 petitioners while Advocate Abdul Munim Khan represented the KMU administration.
The petitioners’ lawyer informed the court that his clients are Afghan nationals who had applied for admission to the MBBS program of Khyber Medical College. However, the university administration demanded submission of passports and visas at an early stage, despite new admission rules and policies stating that foreigners are required to submit such documents only after the issuance of the final merit list.
He argued that the administration’s demand before publication of the final merit list was illegal, particularly as border crossings were currently closed and all forms of movement suspended. The petitioners had requested the college to allow submission of passports and other documents after the publication of the final merit list, but the administration rejected their request.
Representing the KMU, its legal advisor Abdul Munim Khan told the court that the seats in question were reserved for Afghan citizens, not Afghan refugees. It held that the petitioners did not possess Afghan citizenship or 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 forced to exclude her from the admission process. However, he added that if the petitioner obtained a valid Afghan passport and visa and reapplied, she could be included in the process.
After hearing the arguments of both the parties, the court granted the petitioners one month to submit all the required documents and disposed of the writ petition accordingly.
