In season of optimism, Kashmir Hindus dream of return

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 Islamist rebel attacks against New Delhi's rule.

Exiled Pandits gathered on Saturday by the green chinar trees and sparkling streams at the Khirbhawani shrine for an annual festival, chanting hymns to the goddess of peace who is the deity in this holy spot 30 km 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. REUTERS