By Sheikh Mushtaq

SRINAGAR, India, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Troops in Indian Kashmir used metal barricades and barbed wire to seal off residential areas and extended a curfew on Monday across the region, effectively thwarting a planned pro-separatist rally.

Tens of thousands of policemen and soldiers in riot gear patrolled deserted streets in the Himalayan region and used loudspeakers to warn residents to stay indoors.

Over the past two months Kashmir has seen some of the biggest anti-India demonstrations since a separatist revolt against New Delhi's rule broke out in the region in 1989.

About 40 protesters have been shot dead by security forces and hundreds injured in past two months.

Separatists had planned a huge anti-India rally in Lal Chowk (Red Square), the historic centre of Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar, where six decades ago India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised a referendum on self-determination.

"We condemn use of force and appeal to people to continue peaceful protests against Indian occupation," said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of region's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference.

Farooq has been placed under house arrest since Sunday and Yasin Malik, another senior separatist leader who has led a series of anti-India demonstrations in the past two months, was detained by police on Saturday night.

The protests have become an embarrassment for the government but subsided for few weeks during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan which ended on Sept. 30.

The deaths over the last two months have fuelled more anger against India and further alienated Kashmiris from New Delhi.

"They beat us, arrest us, kill us, treat us like animals ... Inshallah (God willing) one day Kashmir will win freedom from Indian colonial rule," said Muzamil Ahmad, a 24-year-old student.

The protests come at a time when violence involving Indian troops and separatist guerrillas has declined significantly since India and Pakistan, which both claim the region, began a slow-moving peace process in 2004.

But people are still killed in shootouts and occasional explosions.

Security forces shot dead five suspected militants in separate gun battles in Kashmir since Sunday evening, police said. (Editing by Alistair Scrutton)

(For the latest Reuters news on India see in.reuters.com, for blogs see blogs.reuters.com/in/)

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