Pakistani Medical Students Protest After Govt Bars Citizens From Travelling To Afghanistan

Last Updated:April 03, 2026, 15:10 IST

Pakistani medical students who were studying in the Ariana Medical University in Jalalabad have been protesting over Islamabad's refusal to allow students to go to Afghanistan.

Medical students near the Torkham border between Pakistan and Afghanistan have taken to the streets against the Shehbaz Sharif-led government for not allowing them to go to Afghanistan to continue their studies in the midst of the deadliest conflict between the two neighbours.

Pakistani medical students who were studying in the Ariana Medical University of Afghanistan’s Jalalabad have been staging protests for the last three days, saying that Islamabad was denying its citizens the fundamental right to education and forcing hundreds of aspiring doctors to miss examinations, sources told CNN-News18.

These students, largely from middle- and lower-middle-class families in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, demanded that Pakistan allow them to cross the Torkham border into Afghanistan so they could continue their studies and appear for upcoming medical examinations.

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What Did Afghanistan Say?

Meanwhile, authorities in Afghanistan said they had no problems with allowing entry to Pakistani students so they could continue their studies.

Top Taliban sources told CNN-News18 that Pakistan’s preventing its own citizens from completing their education and appearing for critical examinations was a grave humanitarian concern.

By keeping the border closed to its students, while Afghan authorities have expressed no objection to their entry, Pakistan is directly attacking the academic future of its students, and the protests displayed the distress of Pakistani families concerned about their children’s careers, sources said.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated sharply over the last few years. The Pakistani military has struck Kabul several times in recent weeks, as part of a conflict sparked by claims that the Taliban government has harboured militant groups that have carried out attacks across the border.

At the heart of the dispute is Pakistan’s long-running accusation that Afghanistan is not doing enough to curb the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The militant group has stepped up attacks inside Pakistan since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, according to analysts.

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