Security clampdown in J&K following Geelani’s death

New Delhi, Sep 02: Authorities imposed a security clampdown in Kashmir late Wednesday after the death of separatist icon Syed Ali Geelani at the age of 92.

Troops put up barbed wire and barricades on roads leading to Geelani's house in the main city of Srinagar after the family announced the death, news agency PTI reported.

Announcements were made from loudspeakers of the main mosque near Geelani's residence asking people to march towards the house.

But police said no one in the Kashmir valley would be allowed to leave their homes. Thousands of security forces were immediately deployed and mobile internet services were cut across the area.

Scores of armoured vehicles and trucks patrolled main roads in Srinagar.

Geelani was an uncompromising campaigner against Indian rule in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan since 1947.

He spent years in jail and had been under house arrest for most of the past 11 years. He had been ill for several months with heart and kidney problems.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was among the first to pay tribute to Geelani, saying on Twitter that he was "deeply saddened" at the death of the "Kashmiri freedom fighter".

Khan said that Geelani had "struggled all his life for his people and their right to self-determination. He suffered incarceration and torture by the occupying Indian state but remained resolute."

(PTI)