The missing paraglider was identified as Asif Mehmood, a resident of Wah Cantt.

According to Zahiruddin Baber, the president of the Paragliders Association Upper Chitral, Mehmood was among a six-member group that took off from Zaini Pass, near Terichmir peak in the Hindu Kush, on Thursday afternoon.

He said the weather turned inclement about an hour into the flight. Five of the six paragliders, including Baber, managed to land safely, while Mehmood continued flying towards Chitral city.

Baber said the association remained in radio contact with Mehmood for about one-and-a-half hours after take-off, but his signal subsequently went offline.

Local authorities fear that Mehmood may have crashed or been forced to make an emergency landing in the difficult terrain of the Barum hills.

Rescue 1122 teams launched a search operation after his disappearance. The operation was suspended overnight due to darkness and poor visibility but resumed early on Friday.

Local volunteers and administration officials are also assisting rescue teams as they search the mountainous terrain for the missing paraglider.

Last year, two American paragliders were injured after crash-landing near Rush Lake in Gilgit’s Nagar at an altitude of 4,694 metres.

The decision came from Justice Khalid Ishaq, who was hearing a set of petitions filed by 13 Afghan students enrolled at different institutions in Lahore, including King Edward Medical University, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences.

The pleas were filed after the PMDC issued a notification in September 1, directing Afghan medical students enrolled in Pakistani colleges “to return to Afghanistan”. The notification also barred medical and dental colleges from granting admission or placement to Afghan students for the current academic session.

In their pleas, the students referred to the Sept 1 notification, as well as a similar July 31 directive by the PMDC, and requested the LHC to declare them “illegal and unconstitutional”, without lawful authority and void from inception.

On Friday, Advocate Asad Jamal, who was representing the petitioners, contended that the students had been condemned unheard and their rights to education, life and dignity had been violated as the council had transgressed it’s jurisdiction under the PMDC Act.

He said the petitioners’ fundamental rights should be treated in accordance with law.

On the other hand, the council’s lawyer, Haris Azmat, argued against the suspension of the directives, saying that it was a matter of national security.

Justice Ishaq, however, rejected the argument and ordered that the operation of Sept 1 and July 31 directives by the PMDC should be suspended. He further directed that students be allowed to continue education, sit their examinations and return to hostels.

The judge also sought replies from the respondents, including the PMDC, the health ministry and the vice chancellors of the medical varsities and colleges in question, at the next hearing on September 18.

The pleas

The petitioners, comprising seven women and six men, filed the petitions through Advocate Jamal on Thursday. They said they had been removed from their colleges on the PMDC’s instructions, arguing that the council and the medical colleges lac­ked the legal authority to expel them.

They argued that the PMDC’s powers, as the top regulatory body under the PMDC Act 2023, must be exercised within the bounds of the Constitution and Pakistan’s international legal obligations.

They said neither the 2023 Act nor constitutional or international principles permitted the council to act arbitrarily, particularly against students who had already spent years pursuing their medical education in Lahore and other areas of Punjab.

Nilofar Nikzad, one of the petitioners, said she had completed two years of medical studies in Afghanistan before being forced to abandon her education because of Taliban restrictions on women’s access to education.

The petitioners said the sudden and disruptive process had led to their eviction from hostels by their respective colleges, leaving them without accommodation while their academic futures hung in the balance. They said the PMDC directives had caused significant distress among Afghan medical students studying across Pakistan, prompting them to seek recourse from the courts as a last resort.

The petitioners asked the LHC to declare two PMDC directives, issued on July 31 and Sept 1, “illegal and unconstitutional”.

Multiple petitioners who have approached the LHC hold scholarships under the Higher Education Commission (HEC)-sponsored Allama Iqbal Scholarship Programme.

In July 2025, the HEC held a reception to welcome around 350 Afghan students arriving in Pakistan to pursue their studies.

A health ministry official told Dawn earlier this week than an “in principle” decision had been made to send Afghan students enrolled in Pakistani medical universities back to their country, due to the ongoing tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.

No decision by govt to return all Afghan students: FO

Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan on Thursday denied that the government had ordered all Afghan medical students to leave Pakistan, but stopped short of confirming whether those affected by the PMDC directive had valid visas and registrations.

“There is no such decision by the government to return all the Afghan students,” Khan told reporters at a weekly briefing in Islamabad. He said Afghan students could remain in Pakistan if they were enrolled in a valid degree programme and held valid visas.

“Of course, if a student is enrolled in Pakistan in a valid degree programme and holds a valid visa, he or she can stay here and complete their education,” Khan said.

However, when asked specifically about the status of students affected by the PMDC directive, the spokesman referred the matter to the medical regulator.

“Going back to your question, the PMDC has issued the letter. I would refer you to the PMDC,” he said, advising reporters to ask the council whether the students held valid registrations and visas.

“There is no blanket ban on Afghan students,” Khan said, reiterating that those holding valid visas and registered in recognised degree programmes would be allowed to complete their education in Pakistan.

Advocate Jamal earlier claimed in a post on X that there was “no distinction made between valid visa and invalid stay by PMDC in its directives”.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has condemned the PMDC decision, warning that the move could turn an education policy into a humanitarian crisis. It said around 100 Afghan medical and dental students in Lahore alone could be affected, including an estimated 20 to 40 women.

Deportation drive

Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the past several decades, fleeing successive wars, as well as hundreds of thousands who arrived after the return of the Tali­ban government in 2021.

A deportation drive first launched in 2023 was renewed in April last year when the government rescinded hun­dreds of thousands of residence permits for Afghans, warning them of arrests if they did not leave.

Last year alone, over a million Afghan nationals were deported by Pakistan, a Senate Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan and States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) was informed.

Pakistan deported a total of 1,155,221 Afghan nationals in 2025, top officials of the Ministry of Interior and Chief Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees told the meeting.

The repatriated Afghans included 163,429 proof of registration card holders, 74,943 Afghan citizen card holders, 509,671 undocumented individuals and 407,178 voluntary returnees.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the repatriations appear to have picked up pace in the current year, with nearly 150,000 Afghans returning home from Pakistan and Iran by mid-February 2026. These returns added to the 5.4 million Afghans who have gone back to Afghanistan from the same two neighbouring countries since October 2023.

In June, the Ministry of Interior issued a directive to immediately arrest any Afghan national “found residing in Pakistan without a valid visa”.