Srinagar, Aug. 19 -- By Naziya Rashid

A genuine Kashmir Pashmina shawl can take months of handwork before it reaches a buyer. A power loom can produce something similar in an afternoon.

Both can appear on shelves from Delhi to Dubai under the same three words: Kashmir Pashmina.

That is where the trouble begins.

The name promises craftsmanship, origin and quality. The market, increasingly, has learned to sell that promise without delivering the craft behind it.

It exposes the limits of a legal system that gave Kashmir Pashmina a powerful name, backed by centuries of craftsmanship, but has struggled to keep it from counterfeiters.

Kashmiri Pashmina received Geographical Indication registration in 2008, GI No. 46, and Kashmir Hand-Knot...