ISLAMABAD: A delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has arrived in Islamabad to monitor and assess the humanitarian and human rights situation in Indian-administered Kashmir, the Pakistani foreign office said on Wednesday.
The OIC's the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) has been urging India since September 2019 to allow its fact-finding mission to Kashmir, but New Delhi has not responded until now. The commission decided to make a visit to Pakistan-administered Kashmir and assess the situation from there.
Twelve members of the IPHRC started their six-day visit on Wednesday.
“A 12-member delegation of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be visiting Islamabad and Azad Jammu & Kashmir from 4-9 August 2021, as part of its mandate to monitor the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK),” the foreign office said in a statement.
“During the visit, the IPHRC delegation will travel to Muzaffarabad and the Line of Control, and interact with Kashmiri leadership, refugees from IIOJK and victims of Indian atrocities.”
The Line of Control is the de facto border that divides Kashmiri territory between India and Pakistan, which both claim it in full and rule it in part. The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought two of their three wars over control of the region.
The rights commission’s visit coincides with the second anniversary of New Delhi’s decision to scrap Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution that granted special autonomous status to the region, and divided the state into two federally administered units.
The move on Aug. 5, 2019 was followed by a crackdown on political activity, arrests of hundreds of political leaders and a series of administrative measures that raised concerns over attempts at engineering a demographic change in India’s only Muslim-majority region.
During the 47th session of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Niamey, Niger, in November last year, the group adopted a new resolution categorically rejecting “unilateral” and “illegal” actions taken by India in Kashmir since Aug. 5, 2019 and its “continued violation of human rights of the Kashmiri people.”
“The visit would be significant in drawing international attention toward the urgent need to address the egregious human rights situation in IIOJK and for a peaceful resolution in accordance with the UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” the foreign office said.
With 57 member states and a collective population of approximately 1.68 billion people, the OIC is the world’s second largest intergovernmental body after the UN.
