SRINAGAR: The authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir placed a number of top separatists under house arrest Thursday in a bid to derail planned protest rallies marking World Human Rights Day.

‘We have placed some separatist leaders under house arrest to prevent any law and order problem,’ a senior police officer told AFP.

Among those confined to their homes were the moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and his two senior colleagues Shabir Shah and Naeem Khan.

They had planned to hold a rally in Srinagar to protest against alleged human rights violations by Indian troops in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley.

‘We are not even being allowed to carry out peaceful protests,’ Farooq said.

The presence of Indian soldiers in Kashmir has long been a major source of tension in the region where a 20-year insurgency against Indian rule has claimed at least 47,000 lives.

Human rights groups put the toll at 70,000 dead and missing.

The scenic region is divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed by both.