Curfew lifted from few regions in India's Northeast as protests continue against Citizenship Bill

Amid the uproar in India's northeast region over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, the curfew imposed in some of the areas have been lifted due to a halt in violence, officials said. 

The police officials said that the curfew was relaxed in areas of Shillong on Friday for 12 hours as no "untoward incident" was reported in these regions.  

"The curfew has been relaxed from 10 am to 10 pm in the areas under Sadar and Lumdiengjri police station limits," East Khasi Hills district deputy commissioner MW Nongbri said. 

The commissioner, however, added that mobile internet and messaging services would remain suspended in these areas. The curfew in some areas of Shillong was imposed at 9 pm on Thursday. 

Earlier, curfew was also relaxed for five hours till 1 pm in Assam's Dibrugarh, the epicentre of the protest. However, protests continued in Guwahati in Assam by the All Assam Students' Union (AASU). 

Assam CM Sarbanada Sonowal said that the government will not tolerate any act of violence and "strong action will be taken against anyone who is involved in vandalism”. The Assam chief minister also said that he was “committed to protect the rights of indigenous people” of Assam and urged parents to persuade their children to avoid joining violent demonstrators.  

 The mobile services in the state of Meghalaya also remained suspended.  

President Ram Nath Kovind, late on Thursday, gave his assent to the Bill, signing it into law, despite the killing of two people in Guwahati and vandalism in northeastern states. 

The Bill gives Indian citizenship to the people from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities coming to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution.

On Friday, Congress party moved to the Supreme Court over the citizenship bill, claiming that the Act violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

(with inputs from agencies)