A high-ranking delegation of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of OIC will visit Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from March 27 to 29, 2017, Foreign Office said. According to Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria, an eight-member delegation belonging to eight different OIC countries will be led by Med S Kaggwa, Chairperson of IPHRC.
He said the delegation would visit AJK to gain firsthand understanding of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and would also visit refugee camps of refugees from the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The delegation will also call on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan.
In AJK, he said the IPHRC delegation would call on the president and prime minister of the AJK. "The IPHRC requested the Indian authorities for access to IoK to assess the human rights situation there. However, India has not responded to the IPHRC request to date," Zakaria said.
Last year, in the wake of Indian brutalities since July 2016, he pointed out that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights offered to send a fact-finding mission to IoK and 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 spokesperson added. The IPHRC has a standing mechanism to monitor the human rights violations in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Like all other international human rights bodies, India continues to deny IPHRC access to IoK.
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