ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been re-elected to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) human rights commission from 2025-2028, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said this week, thanking member states for their support. 

The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) is an expert body with advisory capacity established by the OIC as one of the principal organs working independently in human rights. 

Since it was launched in 2011, the commission has deliberated on important issues such as the rights of women and children, the right to development, combating Islamophobia, extremism and intolerance as well as human rights situations in different countries.

 “Pakistan has been re-elected today to the OIC-Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) for the period 2025-2028 on the sidelines of ongoing meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Istanbul,” Dar, who also serves as Pakistan’s foreign minister, wrote on X on Saturday.

Dar said former Pakistani ambassador Riffat Masood will represent Pakistan at the Commission.

“We thank the Member States for their support & commend IPHRC’s vital role in promoting respect for Human Rights globally,” the Pakistani minister concluded. 

At the 51st session of the OIC’s CFM in Istanbul, Dar voiced alarm over escalating tensions in the Middle East, blaming Israel’s military actions in Gaza and recent strikes in Iran for deepening instability and humanitarian crisis in the region.

The high-level conference was held at a moment of crisis for several OIC member states. Two of the bloc’s key countries — Pakistan and Iran — have recently experienced military escalations with regional rivals.

“Israeli aggression against Iran is not an isolated event,” Dar said in his address to the forum on Saturday night. “It is part of a dangerous and consistent pattern of militarism that Israel has demonstrated across the Middle East.”