Ansari says, peace in SA linked with Kashmir resolution

ISLAMABAD, Feb 29 (APP): In occupied Kashmir, Maulana Abbas Ansari, the Acting Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC), has said that peace and security in South Asia is linked with the resolution of Kashmir dispute in accordance with the Kashmiris’ aspirations.
Addressing a public meeting at Chattabal, Srinagar, Maulana Abbas Ansari said, “Kashmir issue is the basic cause of tension in the region. Unless it is resolved either through implementation of the UN Resolutions or tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmiris, peace would continue to elude the region.”
The APHC leader said that democratically and economically stable Pakistan would help resolve the Kashmir issue.
Ansari expressed the hope that the new government in Pakistan would continue the country’s moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris’ just struggle.
Meanwhile, the APHC has intensified its mass-contact campaign in Jammu to further boost the ongoing freedom struggle and has enhanced the process of deputing its leaders to different areas of the occupied territory to apprise the people about its stand on Kashmir.
As a part of the programme, the APHC leaders, Nayeem Ahmad Khan and Syed Saleem Gilani along with others, are visiting different areas in Jammu for the last two days to activate Hurriyet members and mobilize public support to Hurriyet activities.
Nayeem Ahmed Khan, who is currently on his visit to Rajouri and Poonch, has stressed upon the APHC workers to play their role in making Hurriyet more effective and broad based.
He demanded an immediate halt to human rights violations in occupied Kashmir by the Indian troops.

Kashmir's Pashmina Goats Are Dying of Starvation, BBC Reports

By Ed Johnson
Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) -- At least 600 goats in Kashmir that provide the wool for Pashmina shawls died of starvation because of cold weather and food shortages in the Himalayan region, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Thousands more goats face death after the Ladakh region of India's Jammu and Kashmir state experienced its heaviest snowfall in 30 years, the broadcaster said on its Web site.
Winter stocks of fodder and emergency supplies sent by the government have run out, the BBC reported, citing unidentified officials in the region.
Embroidered shawls made from Pashmina wool are among Kashmir's best-known handicrafts and are exported worldwide, according to the report.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at