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SRINAGAR, India: The state government in Indian Kashmir on Monday defended the repeated house arrest orders imposed on a top hardline separatist leader, saying he was responsible for inciting violence.
Syed Ali Geelani, who favours Indian Kashmir's accession to Pakistan, has been placed under house arrest on numerous occasions over the past year.
“Whenever Geelani is allowed to address gathering at any place, it is followed by large-scale stone pelting and attacks on police and paramilitary forces leading to serious law and order problem,” the government said in a statement.
“In future, if any restrictions are put on the movement of Geelani, he and his actions alone would be responsible for this,” it said.
Geelani was a prime mover behind a series of large anti-India demonstrations last summer that saw 110 protesters killed in clashes with Indian troops.
It was some of the worst civil unrest seen in the region's 20-year insurgency against Indian rule, which has so far claimed more than 47,000 lives.
The Himalayan region is divided between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, but claimed in its entirety by both nations.
The volatile region remains under tight military control.
