Amit Shah calls off visit to Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah has called off his visit to two northeastern states of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh scheduled for Sunday and Monday.
While the development comes amid protests in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, home ministry officials did not cite any reason for the cancellation.
Shah was supposed to take part in the passing-out parade at the North Eastern Police Academy near Shillong on Sunday, and then attend a festival in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, on Monday.
At least two people were killed on Thursday in police firing in Assam, where many areas have been brought under curfew. Friday, however, was relatively incident-free. Sources in the home ministry said the situation was under control in Assam, and attributed the initial violence on failure to take tough preventive measures, including tight enforcement of prohibitory orders under Section 144 and shutting down internet, as was done ahead of abrogation of Article 370 in J&K. "Inputs also suggest that Bangladeshi Muslims may have joined the protests led by Assamese student leaders and opposition parties," said a home ministry functionary.
A senior Assam police official told TOI that with no major incident being reported on Friday, there were plans to relax the curfew from 7am to 3pm on Saturday. However, he added that mobile internet services would remain suspended for the time being.