No one knows if he will return alive after leaving his home in the morning

JKLF chairman Yasin Malik

Mr Malik wants to draw attention to what he says is an increase in killings and fake encounters in the Kashmir valley.

"There is so much panic in the [Kashmir] Valley that no one knows if he will return alive after leaving his home in the morning," Mr Malik said.

"On one hand the government through the media is talking about peace through dialogue while, on the other hand, they are killing Kashmiris in custody," he said.

Members of government staff organisations and trade unions also joined the JKLF leader in a tent in central Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

Custody deaths

On Monday, Mr Malik released a list of more than 70 political activists and civilians who, he alleged, had been killed by the Indian security forces following their arrest in the past five months.

Yasin Malik has threatened to fast unto death

"If the government does not stop killing innocents then I will go to Delhi and fast till death," he said, appealing to human rights groups to put pressure on India.

In March, Indian security forces killed five people who they identified as "foreign militants".

But they were forced to exhume the bodies after Kashmiri villagers claimed the dead men were local residents.

The bodies were subsequently identified as being that of local villagers and handed over to their relatives.

Yasin Malik is one of the founders of the Kashmiri separatist movement.

His JKLF declared a unilateral ceasefire six years ago and has since been waging a peaceful campaign for freedom from Indian rule.