Peshawar High Court halts Afghan medical student deportations

The Peshawar High Court has halted the deportation of Afghan medical students, Ariana News reported on Monday. The report did not give the number of students covered by the order or say when it was issued, and it did not name the petitioners. Ariana News did not say whether the order was interim or final. The court's intervention is the latest legal move in Pakistan's ongoing repatriation of undocumented Afghan nationals.

In a separate development, United Nations experts have called on Pakistan to stop deporting vulnerable Afghan refugees. ShiaWaves, which published the appeal, did not name the experts or say when the appeal was made, but reported that the experts addressed their call to Islamabad. The outlet gave no detail on which categories of refugees the experts consider vulnerable, and it included no comment from Pakistan's foreign or interior ministries.

Meanwhile, Iran has deported more than 439,000 Afghan refugees who lacked legal documents so far this year, according to Radio Pakistan. The state broadcaster, which published the figure on September 22, did not name the Iranian authority that compiled it. The number adds to the large count of Afghans being returned from neighbouring countries.

The three reports together show continued pressure on Afghan refugees in both Iran and Pakistan. Pakistan has been carrying out a drive against undocumented foreigners, and the Peshawar High Court has in recent months issued stays in individual cases involving Afghan students and families. The UN appeal and the Iranian deportation figure indicate that the return of Afghan refugees remains a live and contested issue across the region. The full texts of the UN appeal and the court order were not included in any of the reports, and none of the reports carried a response from the Taliban administration in Kabul.