People take away wooden sticks from a roadblock put up by the protesters during yesterday’s protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Gauhati, India, Thursday Dec. 12, 2019. (AP/PHOTO)
Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) Protest Today Live News Updates: Bangladesh Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen cancelled his three-day India visit amid anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill protests. He was scheduled to land on Thursday. Meanwhile, police in Assam opened fire at the protesters after stones were hurled by them. The police confirmed that at least four people were injured in the firing.
Guwahati, the epicenter of anti-CAB protests, was placed under indefinite curfew on Wednesday. The Army was deployed, and the suspension of mobile internet services in 10 districts — Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Kamrup (Metro) and Kamrup — was extended for 48 hours on Thursday, beginning 12 pm.
The Citizenship Bill seeks to amend The Citizenship Act, 1955 to make Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship of India. In other words, the Bill intends to make it easier for non-Muslim immigrants from India’s three Muslim-majority neighbours to become citizens of India.
