SRINAGAR, India, June 4 (Reuters) - The Indian army said on Monday it was abandoning a goodwill drive to repair old mosques in Kashmir, days after the region's top clerics threatened mass action if it did not stop the controversial programme.

Clerics and separatist leaders of Kashmir, which is India's only Muslim-majority state, said last week only Muslims could do the job of renovating mosques and other Islamic shrines.

The protests were sparked by reports in local newspapers about the army's mosque renovation drive.

The campaign, the army says, was aimed at winning the "hearts and minds" of Kashmiris, many of whom are against India's rule over Kashmir and accuse the army of human rights abuses.

"We would not undertake anything which hurts the sentiment of any community," Lieutenant-General A.S. Sekhon, the Indian army commander of the troubled region, told reporters.

"What has been happening in the past was done at the request of local people. It is never our intention to interfere in any religious affair. We are apolitical, we are secular."

The army says it has spent about 5.2 million rupees ($128,400) under "Operation Sadbhavna" (Goodwill) over the last three years, some of which was spent on renovating old mosques and other shrines.

It has also built schools, bus stations and organised medical camps -- activities which the state governor said would continue.

"They were doing it with all the good intentions, and now they are not doing anything," S.K. Sinha said.

"But Operation Sadbhavna will continue," he added.

Officials say more than 42,000 people have been killed in the over 17-year-old insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir. Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000 dead or missing. ($1=40.50 Indian Rupee)

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