SRINAGAR (AFP) - Top APHC leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has warned India's heavy-handed crackdown on protests in Kashmir could trigger a renewed violent upsurge in the long-running revolt. Mirwaiz said New Delhi needed to accept that Kashmiris were as opposed as ever to Indian rule and a referendum on self-determination was the only way out of the crisis. "We will continue to fight peacefully and politically," Farooq told AFP in an interview, which had to be conducted by telephone within Srinagar because he is under house arrest. "(However) If India pushes us too hard to the wall, tomorrow you can't really ignore the fact the youth might be angered and forced to resort again to arms," Farooq said. Farooq, 34, and two other two leaders - Syed Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik - have been placed under house arrest as security forces struggle to contain public anger. India should be told by the 'world community not to use brute force and intimidate the people', said Farooq, who was catapulted by his father's assassination in 1990 into the hereditary position of chief Muslim cleric for the area. The massive protests, which peaked last month, were triggered by a state gov plan to donate land for use by a Hindu trust which oversees an annual Hindu pilgrimage in the Kashmir valley. Anger surged among Muslims who saw the plan as a move to change the valley's demographic profile and the opposition soon morphed into all-out protests against Indian rule. "Today we had the issue of land that became the focal point of our freedom movement. Tomorrow we may have something else," said Farooq. "Unless and until the basic issue (of Kashmir's future) is addressed, you cannot ever say that the Kashmir issue is dead or that people have forgotten what happened in the past," he said. Farooq has held several rounds of talks with New Delhi in the past to try to find a solution to the future of Kashmir, despite opposition from hardline faction and attacks on his residence. He now opposes bilateral parleys. "The time has come to resolve the issue either through tripartite dialogue or a UN-supervised referendum giving people the choice of independence, staying with India or joining Pakistan. "These are the only two mechanisms which we believe are workable in the present situation," said Farooq. Analysts say the latest demonstrations were a reminder that the India-Pakistan peace process had failed to address the frustrations of the region's Muslims. Farooq echoed the same sentiments. "It was brewing for a long time. People had placed hope in the dialogue process but everything has failed. Nothing had been delivered on the ground," said Farooq. "India has been talking about addressing the issue of Kashmir but they always try to evade the basic question of self-determination," he said.