Kashmir peace kindles Hindus' hope of return

Khirbhawani, Kashmir: Two decades after they were forced to flee Kashmir, thousands of Hindu Pandits seek to return to their ancestral homeland, their hopes lifted by a fall in rebel attacks against New Delhi's rule.

Exiled Pandits gathered yesterday by the green chinar trees and sparkling streams at the Khirbhawani shrine for an annual festival, chanting hymns to the deity of peace in this holy spot 30km east of Srinagar.

"My motherland is regaining its peace and beauty, I can feel it. I feel the time has come to return and live here with Muslim brethren," 52-year-old Ravinder Sadhu, a migrant who lives with his family in the western Indian city of Pune, told Reuters.

Optimism at prospects for peace in Kashmir has risen after New Delhi and Islamabad, which claim the region in full but rule in part, began taking steps to thaw relations frozen since India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the Mumbai attacks in November 2008.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in June repeated an offer to talk to separatists who shunned violence, a step seen as trying to bring peace to the state where tens of thousands have died since armed rebellion broke out in 1989.

Officials say attacks in Kashmir so far this year have been down on previous years. But the region remains on the edge, with stone-throwing and firing between protesters and government forces featuring as almost daily occurrences.

Unpredictable

Government records show over 4,000 families have applied to return, but for many others, Kashmir's volatility puts them off.

"This place is unpredictable, violence can break any time," said Rajesh Koul, a 35-year-old Pandit whose uncle was killed in an attack in 2003.

"I don't want to get killed like my uncle."

Yesterday, the Pandits walked barefoot in the white-marble shrine, bearing trays of flowers and earthenware lamps for the deity, having bought the offerings from the dozens of Muslim boys and girls outside.

Police frisked visitors, searching for arms and explosives.

Nearly 250,000 Pandits left for safer places in India, a migration which authorities say was the largest since partition of India in 1947.