A top freedom fighter leader in Indian occupied Kashmir was put under house arrest on Friday to prevent protests against Indian rule during weekly prayers, police and officials said. Police deployed at Syed Ali Geelani's residence in occupied Srinagar late on Thursday and he was ordered "not to attempt to break their cordon," his close aide Aiyaz Akbar told reporters.
The ailing Geelani, 79, had been set free by police on Wednesday after serving a three-month jail sentence for organising protests against a double rape and murder case that has fuelled discontent here. The latest detention came hours after he led scores of Kashmiris in an anti-India demonstration in occupied Srinagar.
"It is a preventive arrest to avoid any law and order problem," a police official told AFP on condition he not be named. Police and federal paramilitaries were also deployed in occupied Srinagar ahead of the Friday prayers of the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan.