CAB stir: Paramilitary forces withdrawn from J&K, sent to Assam
While the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is being debated in the Rajya Sabha today, Assam is burning with hundreds of people taking to streets to protest the proposed amendments. As the stir continued to rage, BJP-led Centre withdrew paramilitary forces from Jammu and Kashmir and sent them to Assam. To note, forces were sent to J&K to deal with the violent fallout of Article 370's abrogation.
Why is Assam protesting against CAB?
Assam and all other states of the Northeast are against CAB, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Citizenship being a sensitive topic in the area, residents believe this Bill will lead to an influx of Bangladeshi immigrants. They also opine the NRC exercise will be nullified if the Bill becomes a law.
As protesters dotted streets, police used tear gas
For days now, Assam has been on brink due to CAB but things took a grim turn today. Visuals of furious residents burning tires, raising slogans, and being held by police surfaced on social media. Thousands of students of almost all colleges of Guwahati came to streets and clashed with police and CRPF. To deal with them, tear gas was fired.
In Assam's major districts, internet services have been suspended
Army will stage a flag march, said a defense spokesperson
Confirming the development of the Army's deployment, a defense spokesperson said, "Army has been called out at Lahowal in Dibrugarh district to assist the district administration. The Army will likely to stage a flag march."
Considering the unrest, trains have been canceled, short-routed
The turmoil in Assam has also affected train services. Subhanan Chanda, the Public Relations Officer of Northeast Frontier Railway, revealed as many as 14 trains have been canceled, diverted, or their routes cut short. Of these trains, eight, including LedoGuwahati Intercity Express, Dibrugarh Furketing Guwahati Intercity Express, Naharlagun Tinsukia Intercity Express, and Dekargaon Dibrugarh Intercity Express, have been canceled completely.
Separately, in Tripura, two-month old died due to protests
Like Assam, the situation is disturbing in Tripura too. On Tuesday, the state government suspended mobile internet and SMS services for 48 hours on Tuesday. The protests led to the death of a two-month-old child in Sepahijala as people blocked traffic, police said. The agitators also alighted shops run by non-tribals in Dhalai district. Subsequently, two Army columns were sent to Tripura.
Amid protests, Kiren Rijiju promised Northeast's concerns are being addressed
At a time when the Northeast has shown it has little faith in the current regime, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said his Cabinet colleague Amit Shah has given due importance to their concerns. "The entire Northeast has complete protection under the Citizenship Bill and we do not want the region to fall into the trap of some mis-campaigning," he said.
