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SHC suspends PMDC's return orders for Afghan medical students

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Tanoli, I. (2026, September 14). SHC suspends PMDC's return orders for Afghan medical students. Dawn. https://www.dawn.com/news/2029882/shc-suspends-pmdcs-return-orders-for-afghan-medical-students

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Dawn · collected 2026-09-14 · by Ishaq Tanoli

Quick Summary

The Sindh High Court in Karachi suspended directives by Pakistan’s Medical and Dental Council that ordered Afghan medical students to return home and prohibited new enrollments for Afghans until September 29. A two-judge bench heard arguments from three Afghan students enrolled at Dow University of Health Sciences, who challenged the PMDC notification as unconstitutional and argued it would violate their rights under several articles of Pakistan’s Constitution, including equal treatment and protection against discrimination. The petition highlighted potential gender-based persecution for female students if forced to return to Afghanistan.
Written by AI on 2026-09-14, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On Monday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) in Karachi suspended directives from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) that required Afghan medical students to return to their home country. The court's decision came after three Afghan students challenged PMDC’s notification as being without jurisdiction during a hearing before Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon. The PMDC had issued its directive on September 1, instructing Afghan medical students in Pakistani colleges to leave and prohibiting new admissions for the current academic session. Notably, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) is one of several institutions named as respondents alongside government bodies such as the Ministry of Interior and the Higher Education Commission (HEC). The court has issued notices to these parties with further hearings scheduled for September 29, during which time no coercive action against Afghan students will be taken.

Written for “Afghan Medical Students Issue” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Afghan Medical Students Issue
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 6% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Dawn
Hedges 3 of 22 claims Outlet record 72/100
“The articles describe different court actions at distinct times and locations involving separate legal challenges against PMDC's directives.”
Dawn
Hedges 4 of 40 claims Outlet record 72/100
“The articles describe different high courts (LHC vs SHC) making similar but distinct rulings on separate petition dates.”
Dawn
Hedges 3 of 24 claims Outlet record 72/100
“The articles describe different court actions regarding the PMDC directive on Afghan medical students; Article A is about SHC's initial suspension, while Article B is about LHC extending that suspension.”
The Hindu
Hedges 2 of 26 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different court decisions by separate courts (Sindh High Court vs. Lahore High Court) on distinct dates, though related to the same issue of Afghan medical students.”
BBC News
Hedges 5 of 47 claims Outlet record 69/100
“Article A reports on the SHC suspending PMDC's orders, while Article B focuses on Afghan female medical students' fears of being sent back to Afghanistan.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
6%
1 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
72/100
Dawn's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-14 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Dawn · 2435 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Ishaq Tanoli
13 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The court observed that the complainant in the first information report (FIR) was a private individual and questioned how the prosecution could file an appeal against the acquittal instead of the complainant.
🔮 The authority asserted that it could exercise “suo motu powers” to review and vary each of the separate tariff determinations previously established.
🔮 I will not allow either.
🔮 It said that since some allegations were levelled against Karachi Police chief Azad Khan and DIG Amir Farooqui — who is heading the current investigation team — during the testimony of the police surgeon, the commission would send questionnaires to both the senior police officers and asked the counsel for the aggrieved family, Jibran Nasir, to submit questions, if any, in this regard by Monday.
🔮 The three students are enrolled at DUHS under the Allama Mohammad Iqbal Scholarship Programme and are expected to graduate in April 2027.
🔮 During Monday’s proceedings, Dr Syed said that when she approached a police officer to point out loopholes in the first autopsy report, she was told that the police would be lenient during “interrogation” if she did not oppose the findings hinting at suicide.
🔮 Tanoli would be able to record his statement via Zoom/electronic modes, the commission’s order stated.
🔮 “I also said before the commission today that whoever is found involved in this will be punished,” the minister added.
🔮 To that, the state’s lawyer said, “A JIT will investigate the case from various angles while a commission can provide assistance in the investigation”.
Also by Ishaq Tanoli
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 13 articles by Ishaq Tanoli →

Topics

Afghan DUHS KARACHI PMDC SHC

Subjects

Afghan NORP · 5× PMDC ORG · 5× DUHS ORG · 3× Pakistan GPE · 3× Afghanistan GPE · 2× KARACHI GPE · 2× Pakistani NORP · 2× SHC ORG · 2× Sindh GPE · 2× The Sindh High Court ORG · 1×

Narrative

The respondents listed in the petition include the state, the Ministry of Interior, the PMDC, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), the inspector general of Sindh police and the SHO of Eidgah police station in Karachi.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-14
🔮 The three students are enrolled at DUHS under the Allama Mohammad Iqbal Scholarship Programme and are expected to graduate in April 2027.
2026-09-14 · Dawn
SHC suspends PMDC's return orders for Afghan medical students · assertive framing

Claims (18 extracted, 1 hedged)

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday suspended Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) directives ordering Afghan medical students to return to their country until the next hearing on Sept 29. asserted
Court → suspend → Sept
A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon, heard the case after three Afghan students filed a petition challenging the PMDC notification as being without jurisdiction. asserted
students → head → jurisdiction
The PMDC issued a notification on September 1, directing Afghan medical students enrolled in Pakistani colleges “to return to Afghanistan”. asserted
PMDC → issue → Afghanistan
The notification also barred medical and dental colleges from granting admission or placement to Afghan students for the current academic session. asserted
notification → bar → session
The respondents listed in the petition include the state, the Ministry of Interior, the PMDC, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), the inspector general of Sindh police and the SHO of Eidgah police station in Karachi. asserted
respondents → list → Karachi
The court subsequently issued notices to the respondents, the additional attorney general and advocate general Sindh for Sept 29. asserted
court → issue → Sept
“In the meanwhile, the impugned notices shall remain suspended and till then, no coercive action shall be taken by the respondents against the petitioners,” the order added. asserted
order → remain → petitioners
The three students are enrolled at DUHS under the Allama Mohammad Iqbal Scholarship Programme and are expected to graduate in April 2027. asserted
students → enrol → April
The petition stated that the students hold valid Pakistani visas on their Afghan passports for the duration of their studies. asserted
students → state → studies
The petition argued that the impugned actions violated Articles 4, 9, 10-A, 14 and 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan. asserted
actions → argue → Pakistan
Article 4 of the Constitution guarantees equal treatment to every person present in Pakistan. asserted
Article → guarantee → Pakistan
Articles 9 and 14 guarantee the rights to life, liberty and dignity to every person in Pakistan, irrespective of their citizenship status. asserted
Articles → guarantee → status
Article 10-A guarantees the right to a fair trial and due process, while Article 25 prohibits discrimination. asserted
Article → guarantee → discrimination
The petition further argued that the female petitioners would face gender-based persecution and an absolute ban on female education in Afghanistan. asserted
petitioners → argue → Afghanistan
“The respondents’ assertion that repatriation will ‘enable continuation of studies’ is factually false and absurd,” it said. asserted
it → enable → studies
“Forced return of female scholars would permanently destroy their educational and professional futures, condemn them to a life of dependency and marginalisation, and expose them to severe gender-based discrimination and persecution.” asserted
return → force → discrimination
The petition further prayed that the SHC declare the PMDC’s orders and DUHS’s notices “unconstitutional, ultra vires, arbitrary, without lawful authority and of no legal effect against the petitioners”. asserted
SHC → pray → petitioners
The petitioners urged the court to direct the respondents to allow them to continue their MBBS studies, attend clinical rotations, reside in college hostels and appear in examinations without hindrance or harassment. They also prayed the court to “restrain the respondents from taking any action against the petitioners that may directly or indirectly impede the completion of their MBBS degrees in Pakistan and their stay at hostel premises”. uncertain
that → urge → premises
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