OIC human rights body to visit Pak, PoK next week

An eight-member delegation of human rights observers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will visit Pakistan and PoK next week to get the "first-hand understanding" of the Kashmir issue, Pakistan said today.
The delegation of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) belonging to eight different OIC countries will be led by IPHRC Chairperson Med S Kaggwa and will visit Pakistan and PoK from March 27 to 29, Foreign Office (FO) said.
It said the delegation had plans to visit the entire Kashmir but India did not respond to a request by the OIC for the visit.
"The IPHRC requested the Indian authorities for access to Kashmir to assess the human rights situation there. However, India has not responded to the IPHRC request to date," the FO said.

India has maintained that OIC, a grouping of 57 Muslim countries, has no locus standi in the Kashmir issue.
Pakistan Foreign Office said that last year the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights offered to send a fact-finding mission to Kashmir, but the request was also denied by India.
It said the OIC delegation will visit PoK to gain firsthand understanding of the Jammu and Kashmir issue and will also visit refugee camps.
The delegation will also call on Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Adviser on Foreign Affairs and Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan.