Internet services across Assam will remain suspended till December 16 to prevent alleged misuse of social media in disturbing peace and to maintain law and order in the state, officials said on Saturday.
However, demonstrators in eastern India set fire to more than a dozen buses and vandalised at least six railway stations on Saturday, as violent protests against a new citizenship law continued for a fourth straight day.
Suspension of internet services in Assam have been extended for another 48 hours keeping in view the prevailing law and order situation in the state, Sanjay Krishna, additional chief secretary (home and political department), told PTI.
This services have been suspended as “social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and You Tube, etc are likely to be used for spreading of rumours and also for transmission of information like pictures, videos and texts that have the potential to inflame passions and does exacerbate the law and order situation”.
Internet services were suspended on Wednesday initially for 24 hours in ten districts of the state, and then extended for another 48 hours across the state, scheduled to expire this afternoon.
As the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was cleared by Parliament, violent protests broke out in the state with agitators engaging in pitched battles with the police, forcing the administration to impose curfew in several places.
Several parts of the northeast India have witnessed violent protests over the past few days against the Citizenship Amendment Act which expedites citizenship applications from religious minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but not Muslims.
The legislation has put the northeastern states on boil as people fear that it may exacerbate the problem of illegal immigration.
On Saturday, protesters torched at least 15 buses on an expressway in West Bengal state, some 20 km (12 miles) from state capital Kolkata, holding up traffic for several hours, two police officials said.
At least half a dozen railway stations in the state were vandalised and set on fire, leading to the cancellation of many long-distance trains, Sanjoy Ghosh, chief public relations Officer at South Eastern Railway told Reuters, adding it was difficult to say when normal services would resume.
In India’s most populous Uttar Pradesh state, in the north of the country, students at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a prominent institution set up in 1920, protested against the citizenship law and were mobilising Muslims via doorstep invitations for a bigger protest on Sunday.
“With the passing of this bill the Muslim community is scared and this bill, which is now a law, is discriminatory in nature,” said Sharjeel Usmani, an undergraduate student at AMU. “We will protest against it till it is taken back.”
Protests were also staged in several other towns and cities of Uttar Pradesh, including in the Hindu holy city of Prayagraj, whose former name Allahabad was changed by the state’s BJP government in 2018.
In the heart of India’s capital New Delhi, hundreds of students gathered within and outside the gates of the Jamia Milia University, making speeches and holding peaceful protests against the citizenship law amid a heavy police presence.
Police on Friday fired tear gas and used baton charges to disperse scores of students demonstrating at Jamia.
Meanwhile, the US has issued a travel advisory for its citizens asking them to “exercise caution” while travelling to the northeast India.
The advisory also said the US government has temporarily suspended official travels to Assam, the epicentre of the protests.
“US citizens in the northeastern states of India should exercise caution in light of media reports of protests and violence in response to the approval of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Government curfews are in place in some areas. Internet and mobile communications may be disrupted. Transport may be affected in various parts,” the advisory read.
The US Embassy has also listed out precautions for its citizens staying in the northeastern states, asking them to avoid areas with “demonstrations and civil disturbances”, being aware of their surroundings, and keep a “low profile” among others.
