Authorities in Indian Kashmir Friday deployed thousands of troops to prevent a rally by Muslim separatists opposed to New Delhi's rule over a part of the Himalayan region, officials said. The deployment came as Indian-ruled Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar and other parts of Muslim-majority Kashmir valley witnessed heavy snowfall that cut power and telephone lines, and closed road links to villages and towns."Police and paramilitary forces were deployed to prevent a separatist rally in Srinagar," a Muslim police officer said. Friday morning residents awoke to tight security with riot police manning streets and preventing residents from moving out. "We are not being allowed to come out of our houses even to clear the accumulating snow," said a resident Farooq Dar. "It is not even remotely possible to hold rally under such (weather) conditions but still we are being held in our houses," he said. Police said the "restrictions on movement were compulsory for maintaining law and order".