OIC rights body team to visit Pakistan, AJK

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) would visit Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir from 27th to 29th of March.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, the eight-member delegation belonging to eight OIC countries would be led by Med Kaggwa, Chairperson of the IPHRC. The delegation will visit AJK to gain firsthand understanding of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and will also visit refugee camps. 

The delegation would also call on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Kashmir Affairs Gilgit-Baltistan Minister Barjees Tahir.The delegation will also meet AJK president and PM.

Last year, in the wake of Indian brutalities since July 2016, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights offered to send a fact-finding mission to IHK. He requested full and unhindered access to the affected population, to interview a variety of individuals on the ground, including victims, witnesses, security forces and with access to relevant documentation to ascertain the situation that has been worsening since July 2016. This request was also denied by India. The IPHRC has a standing mechanism to monitor the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.

Like all other international human rights bodies, India continues to deny IPHRC access to the occupied territory. The visit is a manifestation of Pakistan's commitment to unflinching political, moral and diplomatic support to the just cause of Kashmiris and realisation of the right to self-determination promised to them under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.