SRINAGAR, Sept 5: Three top pro-liberation leaders in occupied Kashmir were put under house arrest on Friday, police said, as Indian forces struggled to contain new protests against New Delhi.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik were locked in their homes with “strict instructions by police not to try to move out,” a police official said.

Police and federal paramilitaries were also deployed in Srinagar ahead of the first Friday prayers of the holy month.

But the deployment failed to stop groups of Muslims in Srinagar and the surrounding valley from taking part in new demonstrations after coming out of mosques, witnesses said.

Amid heavy rain, hundreds in Srinagar chanted “we want freedom” and “Allah is great” before dispersing peacefully. Similar peaceful protests were held in other parts of the scenic valley.

The Kashmiri leaders had told residents of the disputed area, which has witnessed an upsurge in anti-India demonstrations in recent months, to keep the protest movement alive.

On Thursday, Geelani threatened to launch a “major agitation” against the government if he and other detained activists were not released by the end of Ramazan.—AFP