Army is being requisitioned by civil administration for help in maintaining law and order in Assam as protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill continued to rock the state on December 11.
While the Army was on stand-by in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh during the morning, it has been requisitioned for western part’s Bongaigaon in the afternoon.
An Army source said in Guwahati that one column has been put on stand-by at Bongaigaon, a km short of the area of deployment, if required.
Another column was put on stand-by at Lahowal, about 10 kms from Dibrugarh town, this forenoon, for deployment in the main Dibrugarh town, if needed.
The column was later withdrawn from Lahowal at around 1400 hours as the situation in the town eased.
A single column consists of about 70 personnel, including all ranks.
Filed Commanders and Army headquarter are monitoring the situation closely, the source added.
Assam as well as Northeast region has been opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India prior to December 31, 2014.
The protesters have been claiming that it will change the demographic pattern of the state as well as NE region.
