NEW DELHI, Feb 4: Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq urged Kashmir’s displaced Hindu Pundits on Saurday to return home, promising them honour, friendship and security even as he summoned the disputed region’s diverse people to work to forge a federation.

“The issue of the return of Kashmiri Pundits to their homeland is a separate issue from the problem of Kashmir that has to be solved for peace to return here,” the Mirwaiz was quoted as saying in Srinagar to a meeting of Jammu Citizens Council.

“Kashmiri Pundits are our own brethren, our flesh and blood. The issue of their return is like our own domestic family matter, which needs to be fought for urgently, with sincererity” the Mirwaiz said, according to a Hurriyat statement.

He said the various regions, religions and ethnic groups of Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Kashmir needed to come together into a federation. “We need to make the LOC disappear, for trade and commerce to flourish and for our people to reunite.”

The Mirwaiz called on India to withdraw its security forces from the region. “This should enable the people to live free of an atmosphere of terror and fear.”