SRINAGAR, India, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Suspected Muslim militants threw a grenade near the house of the leader of Kashmir's main separatist alliance on Monday but noone was hurt, Indian police said. "The grenade exploded 40 yards (metres) away from the house of the Mirwaiz," said a police officer, referring to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the main political alliance of Kashmiri separatists. Farooq was not home when the attack took place. He was due to travel to Pakistan later this week at the head of a Hurriyat delegation to hold talks with leaders and Kashmiri politicians from that side of the divided territory. The scenic Himalayan region of Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan, has been the cause of two of the three wars between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Mirwaiz, who is also Kashmir's chief Muslim cleric, has been criticised by hardline separatists and guerrilla leaders for initiating a dialogue with New Delhi to try and resolve the 17-year revolt against India's rule in the region. No militant group has owned up to Monday's attack which took place days after Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Pakistani leaders to push forward a slow-moving peace process. Indian officials say more than 40,000 people have been killed in the revolt against New Delhi's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, mainly Hindu India's only Muslim-majority state. Human rights groups put the toll at around 60,000 dead or missing. Farooq's father was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in 1990, a few months after the revolt against Indian rule broke out. He was Kashmir's chief cleric at the time.
