OIC Human Rights delegation to visit Pakistan, AJK
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ISLAMABAD: (APP) A high-ranking delegation of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of OIC will visit Pakistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) from March 27-29.
The eight-member delegation belonging to eight different Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries would be led by IPHRC Chairperson Med S Kaggwa, Foreign Office announced here Saturday.
The delegation will visit AJK to gain first-hand understanding of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute and will also visit refugee camps of refugees from the Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
The delegation will also call on Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, and Minister for Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit Baltistan Chaudhry Barjees Tahir. In AJK, the IPHRC delegation will call on the AJK President and Prime Minister.
The IPHRC requested the Indian authorities for access to Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) to assess the human rights situation there.
However, India has not responded to the IPHRC request to date.
Last year, in the wake of Indian brutalities since July 2016, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights offered to send a fact-finding mission to the IoK. 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 Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir. Like all other international human rights bodies, India continues to deny IPHRC access to the IoK.
The visit is a manifestation of Pakistan's commitment to unflinching political, moral and diplomatic support to the just cause of the Kashmiri people and the realization of the right to self determination promised to them under the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions.
