Srinagar, Sep 23 (IANS): Senior hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani was placed under house arrest in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar as the authorities apprehended a law and order situation if the leader was allowed to address a Friday congregation, police said.

Geelani had announced he would offer the Friday prayers at the Tourist Reception Centre mosque in the city.

"He has been placed under house arrest to prevent him from stoking trouble in the city," a police officer told IANS.

"Wherever he went to address people, trouble has erupted there immediately after his speeches which are aimed at stirring the passions of the youth," the officer said.

However, a spokesman of the breakaway Hurriyat group, headed by the octogenarian Kashmiri separatist leader, maintained that Geelani's house arrest was proof of the high-handedness of the authorities.

"Invariably, the police have been disallowing Geelani Sahib from going out of his house to offer Friday prayers. This is a direct interference in the religious rights of the leader," the spokesman said.