Jammu (Fides Service) - People in the troubled Indian's area of Jammu and Kashmir, Muslims as well as Christians, know they owe a lot to fifty years of selfless service offered by an 85-year-old Irish Sister Loyola often referred to as "the Mother Teresa of Kashmir". Bishop Peter Celestine Elampassery of Jammu-Srinagar told UCA News that missioners who served in this area have carved a special place for the Church among local people: "It is thanks to missionaries like Sister Loyola, that we are able to work freely amid all the violence" said the Bishop. Sister Loyola, a Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary nun who came to this troubled region in 1936, is known by many for her service to the poor, the sick and prisoners and school children. She is one of the few foreign missioners still in the diocese, which covers all of Jammu and Kashmir, the only Indian state with a Muslim majority. Since 1989, it has been racked by insurgency and counter offensives by the Indian army that have killed 70,000 people and destroyed many buildings. Thus far, however, Muslim militants and the army have spared Catholic institutions that Sister Loyola and other missioners helped to build. Father Joseph Koovackal, Jammu-Srinagar' s vicar general, summed up the nun's popularity: "Sister Loyola attracts people with her spiritual strength." (Sources UCAN/Fides Service 20/11/2002)