The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has expressed serious concern over growing illegal and unauthorised deforestation of occupied Kashmir by Indian troops, turning the territory into a wood smuggling hub.
APHC spokesman, in a statement in Srinagar on Wednesday said that cutting of precious wood from the forests of Kupwara and Baramulla district on large-scale by Indian troops, has greatly affected the environmental beauty and damaged the ecology of the occupied territory, KMS reported.
The spokesman while taking exception to the damage done to the forests of occupied Kashmir by the troops urged the world environmental protecting institutions to come forward to stop this hazardous trend being carried out by the troops. He said, the troops had also set up saw mills near the forests to make furniture and other household items from the chopped off timber to their own use.