ISLAMABAD (DNA) – In what is being considered as another diplomatic achievement for Pakistan, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has demanded India to immediately lift the stringent curfew in occupied Kashmir that has paralysed human life across the entire region for 13 days.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi revealed the OIC decision in a video message. “It is another diplomatic achievement for Pakistan that the OIC has demanded that India immediately lift curfew from occupied Kashmir.”

Qureshi said he had engaged OIC members in the recent past and participated in a meeting of the organisation in Jeddah and discussed the issue with them. “As a result, the OIC also issued a press statement.”

He said the people of occupied Kashmir were facing the shortage of food and medicines and unable to reach hospitals due to curfew.

“The demand for lifting the curfew is not coming from Pakistan, but from the entire Muslim world,” he said, hoping that the United Nations Security Council will also pay attention to the voice raised by the OIC.

The OIC has taken serious note of reports of curtailment of religious freedoms of Muslims even on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, congregations and sacrificial rituals, and prevention of free movement.

Denial of religious rights is a serious violation of the international human rights law and is an affront to Muslims across the world.

The OIC has also urged the international community, including the United Nations and other relevant bodies, to expedite efforts for a negotiated settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions.