India should lift curfew
Urges OIC; Amnesty says Kashmiris should not be treated as pawns in crisis
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has asked India to immediately lift curfew in occupied Kashmir that has paralysed life across the valley.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi revealed the OIC decision in a video message.
India has refuted Pakistan's repeated call to lift curfew and other demands saying the issue is purely internal.
The OIC General Secretariat has learnt with concern the reports of curtailment of religious freedoms of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir, including complete lockdown even on the auspicious occasion of Eid, denying congregations and preventing Muslims from observing their religious rituals, reported Dawn.
The OIC has also called upon 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.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International on Friday reiterated its call to the Indian government to act in accordance with international human rights law and standards towards people living in held Kashmir, including in relation to arrests and detentions of political opponents, and the rights to liberty and freedom of movement.
In a statement, Amnesty International secretary general Kumi Naidoo said that for the first time in decades the United Nations Security Council had taken up the issue of Kashmir.
"The actions of the Indian government have thrown ordinary people's lives into turmoil, subjecting them to unnecessary pain and distress on top of the years of human rights violations they have already endured," said Naidoo.
The people of held Kashmir, it said, should not be treated as pawns in a political crisis, and the international community must come together to call for their human rights to be respected.