North East strike against Citizenship bill: Bandh supporters vandalise vehicles
Guwahati, Jan 8 (IBNS): The 11-hour North East bandh called by the North East Student’s Organisation (NESO), All Assam Students Union (AASU) and 30 other indigenous organisations on Tuesday to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 turned violent after bandh supporters hurled stones and attacked vehicles in different parts of Assam.
The bandh supporters vandalised several vehicles in Guwahati and other parts of the state during the bandh that began amid tight security at 5 am.
They also e attacked employees and vandalised the BJP office in Dibrugarh and Golaghat and the office of a private company at Palashbari area in Kamrup district.
Several bandh supporters pelted vehicles with stones on National Highway 31 in the Banekuchi area of lower Assam’s Nalbari district.
The bandh affected normal life in Assam and other parts of the north eastern region.
Movement of vehicular traffic was paralysed as bandh supporters burnt tyres and tried to stop vehicles in many places in the Assam and other parts of the region.
Shops and business establishments in many places, including in major parts of Guwahati, remained closed.
The police have arrested over 1500 bandh supporters, including All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Anwar Hussain Laskar when a protest rally was being taken out in Hailakandi.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Friday had submitted its report over the Citizenship Amendment Bill before the parliament and it is likely to be passed in Lok Sabha today.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 is aimed at granting Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an ally party of BJP-led Assam government broke up alliance with the saffron party in Assam after the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) had submitted their reports over the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 before the parliament on Monday.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
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